This was actually a challenge given to me - get Daxter super-ticked off, but he can't swear. That, and the bromantic moment struck my fancy.
~Tawnya
Seize the Day – The Precursor Legacy
Daxter and Samos were going at it again. Yet. Still. Perpetually. Even down the hill from the Sage's hut, Jak could hear them, their voices carried on an otherwise calm breeze. He sighed, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other, then back again as the angry words rolled over him. He wanted to stop them, but was powerless to do as such. Anything he could have said or done to stop it from progressing this far was only a meaningless gesture now. He'd missed his chance.
No, he'd more than missed his chance. He'd flat out screwed up. They were arguing because of him, because he had chosen to ignore all the warnings he'd been given and go exploring.
To be honest, he really didn't understand what the big deal was to begin with. It wasn't like they'd stolen a boat to run off to Misty Island, or used the warp gate and interrupted one of the other Sage's homes. To the contray, all he and Daxter had really done was take a walk through the jungle. It was called "Forbidden," but the tree snakes and sharp-toothed fish weren't any more dangerous than the beach's crabs and Lurker sharks, and the two of them practically lived on that beach. Okay, maybe it was a good idea to forbid young children from going into the dense foliage, but they were fifteen, for Precursors' sake. How much longer did the village plan on keeping them penned in?
It wasn't the village. It was Samos. It was always Samos who tried to hold them back…and Daxter had finally called him on it.
It would have been easy to simply apologize. It would have been easier to lie. But of the thousands of things they could, or should, have done, Daxter chose to be belligerent, openly flaunting their rather benign ramble as if it had been some harrowing journey. This, of course, only pushed Samos's temper. The whole thing had quickly flown out of control from there. The fact that they were still arguing, nearly twenty minutes after the fact, proved just how wrong everything had gone. All because he'd wanted a change of scenery, found a pretty flower, and given it to Keira.
The abrupt lack of screaming voices was startling. Jak looked up to see Daxter all but running towards him. It wasn't until he was bypassed with barely a glance that he realized his best friend wasn't trying to go somewhere so much as he was trying to get away from where he'd been. Despite his outward fury, there was a bruised look in Daxter's eyes that kept Jak close to his heels and quiet. He fell into step behind the agitated boy and followed wherever his friend cared to lead.
Daxter lead to the far side of Sentinel Beach via the most meandering, backwards way possibly ever conceived. Jak hung back, giving the other the space he needed to work through so much pent-up aggravation. He'd let Jak know when he was ready for company. In the mean time, the redhead muttered darkly under his breath, picking up and hurling random stones with as much force as he could muster. Finally, just as the sun hit the horizon, Daxter came to a stop atop one of the massive stone monoliths that looked out over the ocean.
"Where does he get off tellin' us what to do, huh? We ain't his kids. He ain't responsible for makin' us eat our veggies or brushin' our teeth. So where does he get off thinkin' he can tell us what to do or where to go? It's none of his beeswax where we go or what we do! An' don't ya dare start tryin' to defend him!"
Jak had barely opened his mouth when he was cut off, Daxter whirling around to pin him with a glare. "Ya breath one word 'bout how he's a Sage an' we need to respect our elders, I'm gonna clobber ya. He only pulls that venerable crap when he wants to lord over someone! Like it makes him better than everyone else 'cuz he can go all sparkly an' talk to plants. Maybe if he stopped talkin' to the flora long enough to listen to a real voice, he'd remember there's more to life than the colour of eco he's high on. An' respect? Respect what…that fact no one's tried splittin' that log on his head so his brain's got room to grow? Not in this lifetime, buddy. My respect's earned—it ain't palmed like a Precursor Orb an' traded 'round.
"But ya know what really boils me? You buy it, every lil' word." Jak blinked and Daxter scowled. "Don't look all innocent, 'cuz I know how ya think. Ya stood under that tree listenin' to me an' ol' Green goin' the rounds an' ya blamed yerself. Ya believed him when he said it was too dangerous, that ya shoulda known better, shoulda listened to what he said 'cuz he's the friggin' end-all, be-all of wisdom. Ya woulda lied an' tried to hide the whole mess. We didn't do anythin' wrong, an' ya still wanna apologize! Do ya even get how screwy that it?
"We ain't him, Jak. We're not gonna play 'round with the glowy stuff an' try to unravel the secrets of the universe. We ain't gonna be Sages an' we certainly won't be hangin' 'round here 'til we're as gnarly as he is. Me an' you, we gotta do right by us, 'cuz there ain't nobody else who's gonna do what we do. But it ain't gonna happen if we don't get out there in the first place. Hang 'em all if they don't like it. It ain't their lives bein' lived."
The anger finally dissipated, leaving Daxter deflated and oddly vulnerable. The bruised look was back, hopeful and hurt and begging Jak to say what he needed to hear, making the young adventurer wonder what possibly could have been said to damage his friend's natural self-assurance so badly. "So what's it gonna be, pal?" Daxter asked in a subdued voice, extending his fist out for their tried-n-true display of solidarity. "Ya in, or ya out? Are ya gonna let everyone else decide yer life? Or are ya gonna make a few bad decisions an' actually be happy?"
Even if the options had included certain death and dismemberment, there would have been no other answer. Jak knocked his own fist into Daxter's and smiled, pleased to see some of the darkness in the other's eyes vanish. He stepped forward, intent on doing whatever it took to erase the rest of the words that stood between them, because Daxter's happiness was his as well. Whether that was a bad decision or a good one had yet to be seen, but Jak knew it was the right one, and that was all he really cared about.