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Jove still wasn't sure what to make of the invitation. That purple-haired reaper wanted to play for him? At first the ghostling had been ready to turn it down immediately, and dismiss it as some sort of evil Reaper plot to do something... evil. The boil was always giving him funny looks, it didn't take much to imagine he was setting up for some sort of trap.

But then the pup hesitated, and put some thought into it. Sparrow was a reaper, and he wasn't bad, he certainly never tried any scary reaping stuff while Jove was around. And Mot was a reaper too, and paid no unusual attention to the boil when they were helping Bul learn to swim. In fact, he hadn't been terrorized by a reaper since his initial transition to Halloween from the human world. And he couldn't even remember that clearly, despite the overwhelming sense of fear that accompanied those hazy thoughts. The pup didn't want to give in to that fear, so he decided to give the reaper the benefit of the doubt.

Besides, if worst came to worst he could surely run faster than Roch.

So at the arranged time, the pup headed out to the arranged meeting time, ears flopped back in spite of his attempts to hide his nervous energy. He merely walked over to where Roch sat, and paused several feet away while the boil cursed out loud.

The reaper's latest outburst caused Jove to leap back a pace, his heart leaping up into his throat, his muscles twitching to run away. Even if he tried to tell himself he wasn't afraid, it still took a lot of work to keep his reactions under control. The pup would need more than bravado to get through this performance without running away...

The ghostling paused as Roch seemed to sink in on himself, and even apologized. It was at odds with Jove's preconceptions. All he had ever seen was the weird looks and the avoidance, but perhaps he had just been unnerved by something he wasn't familiar with. Right now the boil looked like any other student, blushing awkwardly in the face of a minor mishap, embarrassed, but not angry. The pup began to relax as he realized he could only feel discomfort between them, with no threatening tones.

He was about to step closer when Roch suddenly asked about using his own guitar. His weapon.

Jove danced back a couple steps, his ears flattened back against his fluffy hair. So it had been some sort of trap, the reaper had probably planned to bring out his weapon the whole time! The pup made a little growling noise in his throat. If Roch was going to start something, he wasn't going to stick around for it!

Jove's expression gentled slightly, from angry and on edge to a simple scowl of mistrust. No weapon? Roch really did want to make this happen for some reason, and hadn't actually done anything threatening... And...

Awh jackdamnit. If it had been a ghoul, Jove wouldn't have been able to say no to such an honest request. He had to respect his caretaker's wishes and try his hardest to be a young gentleman, but did gentlemanly behaviour have to extend to boils too? He knew there were different rules, but he hadn't learned all of them yet. So. Better safe than sorry.

The pup nodded, still with a tightness around his eyes and lips that warned Roch not to do anything weird. And the way he sulked over it wouldn't be hard to imagine him saying in a grudging tone, "My brother knows where I am, and if you try anything funny he'll come get me." Jove stayed out of arm's reach, but indicated with a tilt of his head that he was ready to follow.

Jove trailed along a half step behind the other boil, and far enough out that he could probably be seen in Roch's peripheral vision. It made him uneasy, going somewhere strange with this reaper.

He was as silent as ever as Roch began talking, only briefly wagging his tail in response to the question about Demi before he remembered he was supposed to be on his guard. Roch and Demi were friends? Surely it was different because Demi was a monster, not a ghost, but it was hard to believe the good-natured hound would be friends with someone unpleasant.

Jove snorted before he could get much further with that line of thought. Roch was one to talk about trust! The pup hadn't done anything to him, it wasn't like he was the one receiving weird looks and being treated like he had mange or something! The pup scowled, but kept following along. It was a good thing he kept silent by nature, otherwise he would have had some really snarky comments.

The pup began to recognize things as they walked, his ears flicking back. They were going into town... Which was definitely a place he wasn't comfortable with. So many cars and noises, and all those roads crossing every which way...

The pup's ears swivelled, listening to the older boil chatter even when he dared glance away and feign nonchalance. So the reaper had a bad experience, with some ghosts? And he was afraid of them? At this point there was no use convincing the pup otherwise, it only made sense considering their interactions up to this point. The reaper's body language was now an open book as far as he was concerned.

He looked over when Roch asked him another question, his expression doubtful. He didn't trust reapers at all, but it had nothing to do with a well. It had only been one reaper. The little ghost couldn't even remember what they looked like, it was on that hazy border between life and unlife and Halloween... But he did remember the fear, being chased... Being caught... He shuddered from head to tail. Once he had been released into Halloween, he had started running and felt like he had been running ever since.

After a minute he offered up one word, a faint english accent decorating his tone. "Hunted..."

Jove glanced over warily, but it seemed like all the heat had left his eyes. Help each other how? He didn't need the reaper's help, a part of him wasn't even sure why he was out there with the other boil anyway. It would have been just as easy to say no to the request, but he hadn't, and now he was off on this wild adventure with a boil he didn't know very well, who could abandon the somewhat friendly facade at any minute to chase him down.

But for some reason, it didn't cross the pup's mind to leave.

As they approached the outskirts of town, Jove's ears began to swivel more frequently, picking up the sounds of talk and traffic as they headed down the sidewalk. He took a position farther away from the road where the cars sped by way too fast, but bravely followed along in the reaper's wake.

The pup was more or less ignored in the reaper's wake, but it gave him lots of opportunities to observe. The better dressed pedestrians reminded him of Ren's parents, the way they would look down their nose, as though raising their chins higher made them more important. It was odd. After all, Roch had been accepted into the same school as so many high-class students, so he had more merit than he was being given credit for. Even if he was a reaper.

When the strangers in the first alley called out Jove skittered towards the road nervously, only to leap back when a car zoomed by. It must have been his company. Normally he wasn't so jittery, even in the town! He tried to look nonchalant, but his cheeks glowed with a bright blush all the way into the crowded maul.

He was still blushing even as Roch asked him about the toy store. To be honest, he had no idea what the boil was talking about. He had been in a clothing store before, but... there was a store for toys too? He could only imagine a store full of squeaky balls and tasty rawhide bones, and soft plushies to alternatively attack and snuggle with. It didn't sound like it would sell any guitars or supplies at all from the pup's perspective.