Listen, And The Stars Shall Speak

Orange Regrets Nothing

Orange's eyes widened as Shore walked into the room. No, she corrected herself. He stormed into the room, practically leaving a trail of fire behind him. He looked positively murderous. 

"What the heck happened?" she asked, worried for whatever dragon had made him this mad.

"Juniper happened." Shore snapped. He paused, calming as he realized who he was talking to. He sighed.

"What did she do this time?" 

"She called me and my whole family freaks and went out of her way to insult Ander." Orange froze, her own scales turning red.

"She did WHAT!" She screeched in fury. "How dare she!" 

"I know."

"So, did you punch that frog-licker in her face like she deserves?" 

"No," Orange threw up her hands.

"Why the hell not?"  

"It's not that simple." Shore insisted. "I'm a prince. Everything I do is a reflection, not only of me, but of my parents and my sisters and my grandparents, and the whole rainforest royal family for some unknown reason. It's annoying. Plus she's a girl, which is bonus points or something in the gossip department that is the entire rainwing tribe." Orange thought for a moment and shrugged.

"Fine. Then I'll go beat her into next week." She started for the door, only to have Shore rush over and stop her.

"You can't do that!" he insisted. She stared at him.

"Why not? I'm not royalty. Nothing I do destroys anyone's reputation, except maybe Juniper's." Shore hesitated.

"But what if... What if Juniper fights back and hurts you?" Orange's face softened and her heart jumped slightly with happiness.

"Please Shore, Juniper is no match for me. Don't you remember all those times we fought and I won? Juniper doesn't even have training or fighting experience."

"You didn't have training."

"Yea, but you did, and I still won. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a face to smash." She walked out of the room, and Shore let her.

"Don't kill her!" he called after her.

"No promises!"

*~*~*~*

"Hey Juniper!" a voice yelled. Juniper glanced over to see Orange walking towards her, looking mad. She held back a snort, thinking, What, he's too chicken to face me that he sends his attack dog? Hilarious.

"Well, if it isn't Shore's little puppy. What do you want?" she questioned. Orange fought back a growl.

"I am not his little puppy."

"Well you sure act like it, trailing after him all the time, hoping he'll pay attention to you. You do know that he's never going to like you, right?"

"You don't  know that." 

"Oh honey," Juniper tsked. "You've been in the friend zone for a while." Orange shook herself.

"That doesn't matter."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here because you insulted dragons I care about." Juniper paused.

"You mean that mentally insane dragonet that happens to be Shore's sister? You care about her? Wow. You're an even bigger suck-up than I thought." 

"She is not crazy, and I am no suck-up. Last time I checked, you were the one begging Shore to come back to her." Juniper walked closer.

"See, here's how your future is going to go." she began. "You will spend years brooding over Shore; well into your adulthood I think. And, one day, when some girl breaks his heart, he'll come to you, and he'll use you to make himself feel better, and then forget all about it. You, however, will never let it go, and it will break you. Then you will live out the rest of your miserable existence pitiful and alone, just like the hermit that lives in this stupid mountain. Sounds likely, doesn't it." 

Orange fumed and glared at Juniper.

"You know what?" she snarled. "I'm done talking with you." She lunged at Juniper and tackled her to the ground. Juniper let out a shriek at the sudden attack and struggled as Orange punched her. They wrestled on the floor, snarling and hitting each other. Orange was fueled by fury and Juniper fought viciously. They fought on, oblivious to the footsteps nearing them until they were forced apart and lifted off the ground by their throats. The two girls gagged as their air was cut off by their captor's hold.

"Stop. Fighting." Haze ordered, her voice quiet but deadly. She dropped the girls, letting them collapse to the floor, and kept walking.