( He doesn't do it because he thinks they need to be even, not really. He does it because it feels like it might be nice to do, a good gesture, a good way to gentle the mood without dismissing it completely. He doesn't mind.
His eyes close as he concentrates, summoning up something with fumbling inexperience. It eventually catches, and he pushes a memory through.
A curly-haired kid with a haircut arguably worse than Nate's stands next to a similarly aged eleven or twelve year old with glasses. They're both bent over what looks like a toad, unmoving and completely still, almost blending into a wide, slate-gray rock beside a lake. Dusty has a stick in his hand, hovering a couple inches over the thing.
"It's dead," Ian declares matter-of-factly. "Don't be such a pussy."
"It's not dead, I can see it breathing," Dusty fires back defensively, "If you're such a badass YOU do it."
"I'll fucking do it, I'm not scar-"
Dusty pokes it. It was not, in fact, dead — asleep if anything, and the touch has it lurching suddenly awake, launching itself forward with a deep ribbut! Forward happens to be directly at Ian, who was not even remotely prepared for the assault.
"Aaah!!" Filled with the sheer terror only a twelve year old is capable of, Ian goes stumbling backward on instinct. His foot clips the raised lip of the rock behind him, and he falls fully-dressed ass first into the lake.
There you go, man. Hopefully it helps offset some of that walking into a wall embarrassment. )
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His eyes close as he concentrates, summoning up something with fumbling inexperience. It eventually catches, and he pushes a memory through.
A curly-haired kid with a haircut arguably worse than Nate's stands next to a similarly aged eleven or twelve year old with glasses. They're both bent over what looks like a toad, unmoving and completely still, almost blending into a wide, slate-gray rock beside a lake. Dusty has a stick in his hand, hovering a couple inches over the thing.
"It's dead," Ian declares matter-of-factly. "Don't be such a pussy."
"It's not dead, I can see it breathing," Dusty fires back defensively, "If you're such a badass YOU do it."
"I'll fucking do it, I'm not scar-"
Dusty pokes it. It was not, in fact, dead — asleep if anything, and the touch has it lurching suddenly awake, launching itself forward with a deep ribbut! Forward happens to be directly at Ian, who was not even remotely prepared for the assault.
"Aaah!!" Filled with the sheer terror only a twelve year old is capable of, Ian goes stumbling backward on instinct. His foot clips the raised lip of the rock behind him, and he falls fully-dressed ass first into the lake.
There you go, man. Hopefully it helps offset some of that walking into a wall embarrassment. )