Wander was up before anyone, meaning he only slept a few hours. Too excited for the day's training to lay around any longer. He decided to get a fire going, and to do it the quick way, his hat provided matches and let up the remaining firewood left from before.
"Gonna go get Mr. Scarf-Wander, he'll be just as excited, too!"
Wander rubbed his hands together with a huge grin.
Excited was the wrong choice of words, his teacher was in a deep slumber, drooling, arms and legs sprawled over his sleeping bag and fur tangled up on his head. RS Wander was exhausted from the day before, the tickling fights from hours ago, sucked up most of his energy.
Wander's hat appeared slowly, eventually his eyes peering over to his teacher's sleeping side..
"Rise and shine!" He summoned his banjo playing a happy tune.
"Shut it, Sylvia…" -snort-
Wander continued to sing cheerfully; but it made his trainer more annoyed.
"Why me…?" He groaned.
"Come on, it's time to eat and go!" Wander shook his shoulders.
"Please, it's like 4 am in the morning, go bother Nate about it."
RS wander pulled his bag over himself, hoping he would leave him alone.
"And don't try to make me get up, please," He pointed a finger at him.
Wander took it all blankly, not expecting that sort of result from his morning greeting.
"Make you get up? Hmmm." He thought smugly.
If the training is about evoking emotions and moods then how about…
Wander thought hard, and worked to aim his mood into his sleeping teacher;
What came next, his teacher bouncing up and down uncontrollably under the blankets then against the tent's thin material, rickochet up and down against his will.
His body had become crumpled and and tangled, eyes flashing stars.
"I'm awake." He shook his head, to clear his vision.
"Great!" Wander clapped happily.
...
It happened too quickly when RS Wander found himself sitting by the fire, holding a bowl in his hands, dumbfounded.
"He's already learning insertion, it's happening so fast."
A sun was barely over the valleys, stars still visible in the sky. RS Wander wanted to sleep, but the drowsiness wasn't in him. Vaporized by the other nomads excitement. His scarf and bandana were in the tent, making him appear naked without them.
"Beautiful morning, isn't it?" Wander chirped, holding a cauldron and put it atop the fire.
"What did you make this time?" RS Wander half-yawned.
"Caramel oatmeal."
"Huh?" RS Wander squinted his eyes, "What's caramel?"
"Oh my gersh, you've never had it? It's delicious!" Wander smacked his lips at him.
"If you say so."
When it was finished cooking, his teacher's expectations were more than thrilled by the breakfast provided.
"You were right, this is super good!" His eyes gleamed in delight.
"Not as good as the sunrise, look!" Wander pointed at the sky.
Now the sun was seeping over the horizon, making the temperature warmer. It was still freezing, but not as much before. Snow clouds were leaving, giving a hint that the day was going to be partly cloudy with sun.
"The universe never ceases to amaze me." Wander made a sentimental sigh.
"I wish I felt the same." RS Wander looked down at his hands; and the wraps on his arms; he rubbed over them.
"Aw, don't be like that, if you have a mutual respect for the galaxy, it's not horrible to you." Wander patted his head.
"I don't share my real feelings for things, because I don't want to expose my weaknesses." RS Wander said softly, semi-sad.
Wander's own smile went flatter, he wondered what he meant by that.
"I grew up thinking no one wanted to be friends with me…. some knew what I was, and they would run away thinking I would come after them. I didn't have a hat like yours, Wander. So to get by, I became a Bounty Hunter-"
Wander jumped like a group of fireworks blasting away,
"Oh, my GOSH! just like Sylvia!" He pressed his face hard against his, making RS Wander forget how to breathe,
"You bidn't met me finish!"
"Oh, my bad!" Wander gave him back the space.
"Anyways," RS Wander sighed,"I joined a group of other hunters willing to pay me, they didn't care about my Furnicle history, as long as I brought in the targets.."
RS Wander would nervously glance back and forth expecting to be judged for his past actions. It was something he was never proud of after he left his former job.
He smiled,
"..I found her, she wasn't very dangerous to me then, but I was assigned to hunt her down anyways. I even turned down the job, because I thought it was dumb to hunt down a Zbornak that didn't pose as a threat."
"Sylviaaaa, Syl, Syl!" Wander's eyes showcased hearts and he rubbed his cheeks.
"She was an odd one, she would try this antic of me being her friend. She didn't know what a Furnicle was ethier, and she didn't care. As weird as she was, she was always nice to me. I had this mind-set that I didn't deserve respect because of what I was then. Bounty or monster; it didn't matter to her. She would put us both into risky situations to test me, and it wasn't out of the norm where one of us was nearly killed everyday..I stopped caring about me trying to escape death, and started to worry for her safety."
He made a genuine chuckle;
"Dumb Zbornak, showing that I, actually mattered, making me all soft; I tried to hide how I felt for so long…"
He closed his eyes, listening to the air wisp past his ears..
….
He panted heavily, eyes frazzled as he stared at his savior.
"You…..saved me…"
RS Wander's jacket, vest, and boots were torn, he'd just escaped falling to his death after being chased by a massive moth coming for him, Sylvia just in the last second.. grabbed his wrappings and pulled him to safety over the cliff he fell off of.
"Well, yes. Because you're my friend." Sylvia smiled at him.
For the shortest amount of time traveling with her, he hated that look, that smile she gave him. At one point, Wander thought it was all a ploy to trick him into thinking he could trust her; and eventually abandon him or try to get rid of him because of the despised species he was.
"I don't deserve love, much less a friend...I'm something to always to hate on. I've lived with it…"
He didn't mean to say it out-loud, but he didn't care. He was in a corner and he needed out...
But finally.
It broke. There were many times Wander came close in the face of certain death... but unlike just moments ago, it hit home. He couldn't bear it anymore.
"Wander,...is something wrong?" Sylvia grew concerned, she reached out with her arms,
At first he tried to not take steps towards her, the lifelong doubt tried to keep him put where he was, but pushed it…
He wrapped his scratched and cut up arms around her neck.
Sobbing. He rarely cried, and hadn't done so since he was young.
"I was so scared. I thought it was really the end, Syl. And you saved me."
His tears soaked the fur on his neck and on her yellow scarf.
"Shhhh, it's okay buddy. I'm always here to help."
"Help?" He croaked his words, they were almost incoherent.
"Yeah, it's pretty much what I do."
She rubbed the back of his head, letting him cry more on her shoulder.
"Thank you, Syl. You made me realize what I needed most."
He hugged her tighter.
...
"We've been stuck together ever since." RS Wander sighed happily.
The moment his life changed for the better was one of the most happiest and frightening all at once. He'd never forget it.
He took one look at Wander and jumped,
"What's with you?"
Wander's eyes were filled with tears overflowing his face,
"That's so beautiful." He sobbed.
"Uhhh…" RS Wander wasn't sure what to say.
Wander gave him a massive hug, but this time not cutting off his airways. RS Wander wrapped one arm around his back, giving in.
"I didn't like being hugged, even when I was a kid. I would always stiffen up, even when Sylvia hugged me all the time."
Wander didn't respond but he still clung to him. That suddenly made the former hunter worried,
"Wander?"
He heard soft breathing; Wander had fallen asleep. The moment he did, RS Wander felt drowsy.
"You wouldn't allow me to be tired, you're learning so fast." He yawned.
He decided to hold off the training a little longer, a tired teacher makes a slack student. RS Wander held Wander bridal style and went back to his tent. And made themselves comfortable.
An hour passed when Nate finally woke up, he wasn't surprised to find Wander wasn't there, so he got up, expecting him to be going on and talking outside. That time he was surprised.
"Where could he gone to?" Nate rubbed his hair and face, wiping the sleep away.
He checked into the 2nd tent; there they were, two identical Wanders next to each other, his foster on his side, facing left; Wander the same position, sleeping soundly.
"Lazy-bums." Nate huffed and chuckled.
Before leaving them alone, he quietly took Wander's hat, Nate hadn't had coffee in weeks, so he hoped it would give him some.
"Don't sleep too long, Wander." He said indirectly.
"Morning, Deena."
On the other part of the planet, Sylvia was up and about making breakfast; she went in and out of the cave gathering snow and turning it into boiling water. The sleep did help like she'd hoped, more positive and less bitter towards the agent who slept by her side.
Deena rubbed her eyes and yawned, her dark blue pj's were rumpled, the shirt exposing her stomach and mammary glands. She noticed this and timidly pulled it down, hoping the Zbornak didn't notice.
"Morning."
"Were you warm enough?" Sylvia asked, ticking the cooking spoon in her hand.
"Yeah, I was, thanks to you and Wander's blanket." She smiled.
"It suits you." Sylvia teased, and brought one arm around her.
"Embarrassingly enough, yeah."
"Let's eat up."
Deena sat on blankets used as the only thing for chairs against the cold hard surface of the cave. She forgot that she still had the prized blanket in her hand and she happily put it on her lap to warm up her legs.
After eating and conversing for some time, Deena remembered something;
"Hey, Sylvia?"
"Hmm?" She swallowed her food quickly to speak.
"The night Wander and the other two left, what did you and him talk about?" Deena tilted her head, curious.
"Oh, dumb me being a worry-wart, and convincing him he shouldn't go." She snorted.
"But after that, the other Wander joined you: and when you all came back...you were...different?" Deena tried to describe.
Sylvia's cheerful demeanor melted off. A second later, tears threatened to fall.
"He...showed me things that were beyond awful."
"Showed you things?"
Sylvia nodded, remembering the emotions of despair filling her body;
"This is what happens when Furnicles don't keep themselves in check."
RS Wander held her hand tightly, and put one hand on her forehead:
She felt pain beyond belief; she felt his past struggles and fears corrupt his mind and overtake his body, it was in a vast swimming pool of hideous emotions, ones she never thought to feel or existed. She watched him cower into a ball, alone and hold his head in despair. His power was controlling him, blasts of air and raw emotions destroyed everything, and they touched rocks and hills in the area he occupied and they were wiped out of sight; he cried and cried, Sylvia cried with him, and copied his movements and behavior, her own past mistakes and pain working against her. Tripling the pain. It was worse than someone torturing her. They became one, the same, and into something else entirely, the body transforming into shapes of black flames..
Sylvia jolted, ending the dream. She breathed in precious oxygen; as if someone forced her to breath in water before she drowned. RS Wander stepped away slowly, holding in his own breath. He looked down, remorseful.
"I've never shown anyone that, not even Sylvia from home, much less you."
"Is it over?" Wander peeked one eye, as he was told to block his ears and sight.
"Yeah." RS Wander said, finally letting in a sigh.
"No one should go through what he did; at the time, I understood." Sylvia finished.
"When you said you saw "black flames" what did you mean?" Deena asked intently.
"I don't know what I saw, I thought it was some part of his feelings or something like that," Sylvia shrugged lazily,
"What I do know, is that Wander is going to do well, and work hard; so he doesn't have to hurt anymore."
Deena nodded, taking it all in. She didn't think twice about the fact that Furnicles could feel, much less think for themselves. She was told they only lived by what they were told to do and not help. Much like Nate who thought the same.
"They're cursed." Deena said softly, making the walls echo.
"Who's cursed?" Sylvia asks.
"Nothing."
"What kind of creature has the power to use feelings against someone, I've never heard of that." Sylvia watched the flames of the fire spark and flicker.
"I think...if they can take control of someone's mind like that…" Deena began, an ominous look in her eyes,
"It would be catastrophic."
To change the subject, Sylvia made a sly grin,
"By the way, Deena…"
"Yeah?"
"Your shirt showed your stomach and I saw everything." She giggled.
Deena's face exploded with red and smoke, her eyes turned frazzled and white with panic. She wrapped her arms around her torso.
"You weren't..s-supposed to see t-that."
"It's okay, we're both girls, it's just us here. No need to be ashamed." Sylvia laid back with her arms across her head.
"Please, I need a hug. I tend to get clingy when I'm embarrassed."
"Weird request, but I'll take it." Sylvia made a motherly smile to her.
The two of them calmed down and enjoyed the rest of the morning.
"AHH!"
RS Wander jumped himself awake, remembering he was supposed to be up and training. He looked around to see he was covered in blankets next to Wander, who still slept.
"Grop, grop, grop!" He panicked and got up, shaking his student, "Wander, get up!"
He snuggled himself deeper into the blankets, smacking his lips.
RS Wander put more force and mental feeling:
"GET UP!" He shouted.
"RAUGH AHH!" Wander sat up, eyes extremely puffy.
"We have work to do, come on!"
"Can't I sleep for a few more minutes?" He yawned.
"No, it's been past that, we gotta do it." RS Wander shook his head.
"Okaaay."
The two made it out of the tent, and to see Nate reading his notes next to a mug of cold coffee.
"Oh, hi. I was wondering when you'd two would beat the bush." Nate smirked at his foster.
"Shut it." RS Wander shot at him, too tired to be dealing with his teasing.
"What ti-uoum is it?" Wander yawned again, it made his sentence hard to understand.
"Mid-afternoon." Nate replied.
"Ughh." RS Wander groaned.
"Before we point fingers on who's fault it is, let's just get started, okay?" Wander patted his teacher's shoulder.
"I'll get my things."
It took another hour before any of them were ready and fully awake to begin the training session.
"Today, we're learning control and going over your current emotions." RS Wander announced, fully clothed in his red scarf and bandanna.
Nate was off to the side behind him holding his notes.
"Anything you wish to share with us before we start?" RS Wander looked over his shoulder at him.
"I can give the origins and studies of the Pathokinesis ability." Nate offered.
"Really? Go on."
Wander was now interested.
Nate cleared his throat, "Many years ago, a creature of the Cupid species struck a young Furnicle into the back, it did not fatally kill him; but left him with the heightened senses to read the feelings of fellow family members and those close to him-"
"OHHHH, A CUPID?"
Wander's eyes sparkled, he smacked his face with his hands and kicked his feet.
RS Wander rolled his eyes, starting to regret getting his son to share the information.
"I'll go on;"
"Furnicles at the time, were on the mind-level of depending on their instincts to hunt and not show love, they didn't know how, until the cupid struck the child that day. Thus: the era where they began to use rational thinking came into play and showed interest and passions for things other than hunting prey."
"That's soooo coooool!" Wander clasped his hands, and daydreamed.
"What does...a cupid have to do with it?" RS Wander gestured his hand, not believing it, "Cupids were supposed to be some crazy legend."
"I could be wrong, and they may have made it up too, but I remember reading something that explains it better in the books at home."
"You've lost me, but I'm listening. Not sure if he still is, though." RS Wander looked at Wander, still gleaming with rainbows and sparkles.
"Researchers and scientists took blood and DNA tests, they found two results from two different individual Furnicles; one had a substance in her blood, it was smooth and opaque liquid, the other one, a male; did not."
Curiosity was nipping at him now, RS Wander listened intently and ignored the happy sounds Wander made.
"They injected it into rats for tests, they showed behaviors of affection; in the next few months of studies, they made records of the different reactions with the substance and with the blood of the male Furnicle, the rats showed variations of agitation, and cannibalism."
Both Wanders flinched ever lightly at the last few words, making them tense. RS Wander's eyes shrunk with fear.
"The substances were given names, the one that affected the rat's level of affection was called "Altium" meaning a chemical substance that had high levels of dopamine and other chemicals making the rats display other forms of emotion."
"Altium.." RS Wander repeated.
"The other non dopamine substance was called "Lestium", meaning little or less levels of dopamine from the male Furnicle, aside from rats they tested it on slugs and snails, they ate each other within minutes of the injections of the Lestium."
That made RS Wander relive the moments when he came after other people and was starving, he could never understand back then why.
"But does that mean…" He started, "We have Lestium in our bodies?"
Guilt and fear dug its teeth again in him, he feared again one of them would run away and leave him behind.
"Yes, but not entirely. There's more according to the research, those that had Altium passed down to their families thought more rationally, displayed behaviors of self-control and affection to their own kind and other people."
"I have it."
Both looked at Wander to see both of his hands over his chest, and smiling.
"I love people. I love Furnicles, why should I not? I love this whole universe." He blushed at them.
"I'm not a scientist, but looking at you, I can tell you have it." Nate winked at him.
"What does this mean for me?" RS Wander kept his eyes on the ground.
"I've gone after you when you were small, I tried to eat people; I've done the worst things imaginable. Lestium turned me into a monster, thus I still have it-"
"You don't."
RS Wander felt Nate and Wander's hands on his shoulders, giving him looks of comfort;
"You're more than your levels of Lestium and Altium put together, they don't define you." Wander caressed his face, making his teacher slightly pink, but let him talk,
"You're my dad, you pushed through all that and Sylvia showed you could be her friend, didn't she?"
"I am..?"
Again he reminded himself he wasn't in the past and many looked up to him, even when Nate's parents were alive they saw him as a dear comrade, not an apex predator.
He snorted, kicking himself for sounding silly and letting his old doubt fall on him.
"That cupid had the right idea, he or she just wanted us to be good people." Wander wanted to put it into a positive note.
Nate laughed heartedly at the thought, and agreed.
"Thanks Wander. I owe you one."
RS Wander moved their hands off and made a serious smile,
"Let's start."