For JackRabbit Week 2014. Prompt::Fight
Aster reached up with a shout, his face contorted into a snarl as he snatched at Jack's ankle before he could fly off. "Oh no ya don't ya wallaby! Just where the hell are ya comin' back from with scratches like that!?"
And indeed, the pale sprite had a shredded hoody and angry red gouges across his arms and back. "Nowhere, Bunny! I just got too rough with a new friend is all." He tried to laugh it off with his usual soft chuckle. He rubbed at one of his arms over a long, angry mark as he balanced on his staff, crouching like a gargoyle.
Aster wasn't having it. With a sharp kick he swept the shepherd's staff out from under Jack and into his waiting paw. His other paw whipped out at the same time to nab an exclaiming Jack by the back of his neck, yanking him down as he writhed in his grasp. "Too rough!? New friend!? Mate, ya just got a thrashin' from my wall ornament! Who in hell didja meet, frostbite!?" He dropped Jack's staff on the grass gently, gripping one of his wrists when he tried to sock him. If Aster wasn't as strong as he was, that woulda hurt.
"F- Bunny put me down! I got caught in Mother Nature's branches when I tried to mess with her realm a bit! That's all I swear!"
Aster froze, now gripping both of Jack's wrists. "...Are ya a bloody drongo, mate!? Motha Nature!? Moon's Drawers, mate...!" With a frustrated growl he pinned the slight boy down, Jack letting out a surprised sound as he was suddenly pressed into the grass. "That sheila can rip ya a coupl'a new ones without so much as blinkin. The hell're ya thinking, messin' with her!?" He was huffing and growling, a bit crazy with worry and relief that the brat was alright. He was already turning him over to look at his back, distantly surprised that he hadn't tried to break free. He was struggling, yea, but not enough to warrant much notice from Aster.
"W-woah, Bunny, what the heck!?" Jack yelped when Aster suddenly jerked his hoody and jacket up, pining both his hands with one large paw. "Hey, that's enough! It'll be gone in a-FFFF!" He hissed like a cat when he felt something fairly large, wet, and burning hot stroke across his lower back to his shoulder blades followed by a low, grumbling growl. His cheeks frosted over and in a burst of embarrassed fright ice blasted out around him. The grass and Aster's paws were harshly bit by the cold and Aster yelped, letting go suddenly. Jack scrambled, using a little help from Wind to launch himself a few feet away to glare at Aster. "Seriously, Bunny, I get that you're worried, but back off. I'm fine. I've been through worse in my three hundred years and I didn't need anyone then, I really don't think I need anyone to tell me what I can or can't do, where I can or can't go, or anything like that."
Jack knew that came out wrong when Aster's glare and growl turned into wide eyes and laid back ears. "So in otha words, mate, ya don't need me around, right? Whateva then, see if I bloody care." Aster's voice didn't raise, didn't break, and that scared Jack. Made him feel like he was just too mad, maybe too hurt, to even yell. But Jack was quiet as he waled away, refusing to apologise. Because it's true. He didn't need Rabbit.
"...Doesn't mean I don't want you around though, stupid 'roo." He grumbled, but Aster was already down his hole and running away.
The last niggling he thought he had was...
Why had that felt so good?
