BatIM Steps of the Survivor

Chapter Nineteen

Understandably, the news that Joey was talking to Henry and his family brought up panic, mainly from Sammy and Norman, who were his old friends back when the studio fully functioned for its original purpose; animation. The atmosphere grew tense as the group talked about what to do from there, and even Inky, the one who was usually calm and semi-apathetic, seemed uncomfortable about it.

As a consequence of the new information, Sammy was much more distressed than normal. Norman and Inky both seemed to be in on the loop, but she and Boris were not. She felt a little left out, but didn't want to press it. It already seemed to trouble her poor musical friend a lot, whatever was on his mind. She just wished she could help more than providing moral support on a situation she didn't even know, and she felt it had the effectiveness of wilted flowers on impressing someone's crush, shriveled up petals falling to the ground and showing their hollowed dullness and decay. At least Inky seemed to be much more effective in helping Sammy through his emotions. The two stuck close together, Sammy clinging to Inky like he was an emotional lifeline. Neither seemed to mind the arrangement.

Of course, Jade had to leave at some point and actually go home, but as she didn't want to be spotted or caught in a lie, she would just have to wait for a while. When she and Boris finally went to leave again, the sun was sinking down into the horizon. Both doubted they'd get home before the sun's light vanished, and neither had a flashlight. Their best bet would be Jade's glowing eyes, but she doubted it would be bright enough to guide them on bikes.

"If it gets hard to see, we should just walk the rest of the way home," Jade suggested. "Bike crashes might result in broken bones. I don't want that to happen, especially not to you. Wait... do you even have bones?"

The wolf's expression furrowed in something like confused fright. "I don't know, do I have bones?"

"Hand over your hand, let's find out."

The wolf did so, and Jade took it gently, feeling the back of his wrist. The same hard structure that was within her own was present. Boris indeed had bones.

"Yep, you've got them too," Jade confirmed, looking to the wolf with a small nod.

His expression brightened as he looked at his wrist with almost a hungry expression.

"Alright, you have bones, let's not crash and- hey! Don't do that!" She chuckled, catching her friend in the act of trying to gnaw on his arm in hopes of getting the satisfaction of bone. "If you want a bone, we'll get one for you next time we visit the studio! Don't eat your bones, those are important!"

Boris relented, and the two shared a bit of a laugh before finally setting out before they could lose more of the sun's light. A ride at dusk was a different experience, everything being soaked in oranges, and eventually, blues, painted the landscape in a whole new beautiful light that Jade hadn't previously taken the time to appreciate.

Glancing back at Boris revealed that he too found the colors beautiful. His inky eyes seemed to sparkle in awe, and Jade was almost worried he wasn't paying enough attention, though when she turned back in front of her, it was revealed to be her who needed to be more careful instead, as she almost careened off the side of the sidewalk into a ditch. Breathing a sigh of relief, she tried not to let this taste of narrowly avoided disaster shake her too badly.

As she had predicted, the sun sank below the horizon before they got home, but not by long, and contrary to their original thoughts, their eyes adjusted to the dimming light as it grew darker. For now, the moon's light sufficed. She had gotten more careful over time with glancing back at Boris, only doing so on straight ways and for a couple of seconds. The wolf seemed to keep up well, at the very least, but surely holding his tail up so it wouldn't get hurt by the back tire must get exhausting after a while, or so Jade thought.