Ch. 4

Rifle in arm, Jade led Dave out of her lab/house.

The sudden change to intense sunlight made Dave squint just slightly behind his shades. Jade held a hand over her bright green eyes. The surrounding area was pretty flat, an expanse of brightly lit, lush grass and some scattered rocks. Had he not trekked through the forest or seen Jade's house then he would have assume this was all there was to the island. Miles of grassy land surrounded by water and nothing else save for a frog statue.

"I guess the most obvious place to check out are the ruins, huh?"

"Sweet."

"Yes!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Following after her Dave wondered what to do. Should he bring out his sword? Jade was carrying her rifle for some reason. Maybe he should film on his phone? He certainly wouldn't be self narrating.

As she continued marching forth with full gusto, he began to see Jade in a much different light than that which he would have expected. Take a look at her and you've got a pretty scrawny, non-threatening, nerdy looking girl- though the rifle was a great foil to that image- but here she was barreling through the grass, smiling and outpacing him easily. Not that he was out of shape by any means whatsoever. He was certainly fast, and he was sure he could outrun her- in short bursts. He wasn't really a long distance sort of guy.

She paused to turn around, not in the slightest out of breath. "The ruins are really special! I bet you've seen nothing like it. The whole island is really great. I love it!" She flashed a smile and then whipped back around.

He took a second to breathe. The smell and feel of cool ocean and warm grass colliding did something amazing for his senses. The thoughtful inhale nearly took him back. It felt like his first breath in... maybe ever. The rest of the sensory stimulants came rolling after, barreling him. Walking on thriving grass, the sound of waves, the feel of the sun and passing breeze. He tried to shake it off and continued walking forth.

"Starting to get what you're saying."

"Good. Now hurry up Dave. We've got to make it to those ruins before it gets dark."

He raised an eyebrow. "What, is there a curse or something once the sun goes down? Frog statue is actually like, one of them gargoyles isn't it? Have you seen that show? Shit comes alive at night and kick some ass."

"I don't think I know what you're talking about, but the frog statue doesn't come alive at night, just sits there catching the eye of famous directors and such."

"Right. So what's the whole, 'before the sun sets' deal? Don't tell me you're the cursed one. Oh god, this is why you wanted me to stay overnight, huh? You're a vampire. I've seen how this works. You're actually a dude too, aren't you? That's what the creepy ones do. Transform into girls and attract guys over to kill them and suck them dry of their blood."

She turned around and frowned.

"Okay, maybe you're not a dude. Don't worry, there's plenty of plot left for this whole vampire shtick. I'll be the teenaged girl, and you can be the hot vampire that I fall in love with because you're all mysterious and save me from cars and other vampires. Also werewolves hit on me and you get all sorts of jealous, but you don't gotta worry because this chick is definitely Team Edward."

"There are so many things wrong with that Dave. First of all, why are you a teenaged girl? Second of all, that still makes me a guy! Last, I am not a vampire and would much rather be a werewolf!"

They had reached some manmade looking rocks, laying in ruin on the ground. Old and sturdy, covered in what he was going to assume was just moss and not some furry green mutation.

"A werewolf, huh? You're one of those."

Jade climbed up the dark gray stone until she reached a good sized ledge. She held out her hand to held him up, frowning as she asked, "One of those what?"

"A furry, Harley. A fucking furry. You wish you had like, cat ears and a fucking furry tail to match. I bet you have a fursona," he said taking her hand and getting up to her level.

"A what?"

"Fursona. Don't play dumb with me. You're into anthropomorphic creatures getting it on. What are you, a koala? Is that a thing? Zebra? Lion? You're a lion aren't you?"

Jade put away her rifle and exchanged it. He watched as she took aim and fired at the statue. A clear shot straight above a dark opening. A grappling hook, huh?

Jade hooked her arm around his waist. "Hold on to me, okay?"

"Scratch that, you're Batman."

She clicked a button and they were up in the air, wind gusting past them. Geez, he could've just used his skateboard. "If I was going to be part animal at all, I'd be a dog for sure!"

"Sorry. Dog ears and a fluffy tail. Better?"

They went right through the opening and landed somewhat steadily in the inside of the frog ruin.

"Better," Jade said letting him go.

Dave ran a hand through his hair, trying to fix whatever windblown strands had fallen out of place. Jade simply shook her head, and he could see where the dog fascination kicked in.

"Well, here we are! Good thing we made it on time. The sun is in a good spot to light it up!"

With his shades on he had to admit he was thankful for the lighting. Convenient. He could make out some hieroglyphics on the walls. He walked up to inspect them more closely.

"I think it was a temple... probably did worship the frog. They're are a lot of frog looking carvings, but a bunch of other reptile looking creatures are there also."

"Except they're all standing on two feet."

"Right. There are some lotus flowers which are easy to recognize, but... there's a circle with a lotus sort of pattern. I don't know what that symbol is but it's repeated a lot."

"Maybe the sun?" Dave suggested.

"I was thinking that, but there's another circle there. It's divided but has spikes, which might be the sun's rays. It doesn't seem like it though, but I don't really have any other guess." Jade stood next to him and crouched down, pointing to the symbol she had been describing.

"Looks deadly," he said bending down slightly.

"It's really cool though, whatever it means. I've studied the walls a few times but there's obviously something else in here that's been much more interesting." She got up and flattened her skirt out. "I'll show you." She took his hand and began to lead him towards the other end of the cavern.

She liked to touch a lot, he noted. Or rather, she didn't seem to care about personal space much. There was the intimacy of lifting him up and putting her arm around his waist that didn't fluster her in the slightest, and now she had her small hand wrapped around his wrist as she walked forward unfazed. He could chalk up the first to necessity, but the latter act was not. Maybe what was stranger was that he didn't mind. Whenever he was shooting on location people remained at a distance. The occasional pat on the shoulder or high-five were dealt out whenever he saw fit, but his trademark thumbs up was his usual form of... he guessed affection. When people got too close he backed off or got extremely uncomfortable. Jade Harley's easy touches had no such ill effect.

She let go when they reached their destination only a few feet away. It was a small place after all.

"Here."

In front of him was a flower. To be more specific, a giant flower. It wasn't quite large enough to situate the giant frog that sat directly above them, nor was it as big as the monster sized lily pads that dotted the waters below, but still a pretty big fucking flower. Its deep magenta petals were up and closed tight, reaching to his neck. Even more mind fucking was the thing it was sitting on. The base was brown and green. It looked like it weighed a ton, which would very well explain why Jade hadn't transported it back to her place. It was complete with a... count down clock that reached into the billions. Why would anyone have a counter for that long?

"It's set to reach zero in less than a year." Jade said quietly.

"December 1st."

She nodded. "My birthday."

"You know what happens when it countdown ends? Confetti? Virus that invades the earth?"

"I'm going to assume that the flower blooms."

"Right. Good assumption. That's what you get for being a paleontologist."

"A botanist. Plants."

"Botanist." He turned his head to see what else was around. His eyes landed on a crate. "What's that over there?"

Jade turned to the direction he was facing.

"Oh, I brought some of my supplies up here when I was trying to see what species this was. It's almost identical to the flowers around the island. All the plant life here is really strong and wild, but this one has some sort of anomaly."

"Cool." He didn't know how else to respond. He really didn't know much about plant DNA.

"Doesn't matter. I'll do more observation when it opens."

"Sounds like a fun birthday."

"The best."

"Maybe it'll have a cake inside or something."

She smiled and took him by the wrist again. "Maybe." Jade proceeded to walk to the entrance to the use-to-be temple.

"We going?"

The doctor shook her head. "Not yet. It's sunset."

She got on her knees and sat down, legs dangling over the edge. Her hand left his arm to tuck her hair behind her ear. "Sometimes I forget how pretty it is to watch the sun set here. I'm usually in the lab."

He looked out to the horizon where a very orange sun was sinking steadily. The entire cavern was lit with a warm glowing light. "Fucking swooning over here, Harley. This is where you take all your dates, isn't it?"

Jade didn't say anything. He tilted his head to look at her.

"Harley?"

She smiled widely at the sky, obviously breath taken.

"Earth to the doctor," Dave called.

She quickly dropped her smile for an expression of surprise. Her green eyes were wide and alert as she turned to him. The big orbs reflected the bright orange sun, and in them he saw flicks of gold. He felt warm.

"Sorry! I spaced out for a second there."

He shrugged, hoping the weird feeling would also roll off with it. "Happens to everyone."

"Me especially... I'm quite the space case. I've always been. Ever since I can remember I've had these... episodes, I guess, where all of a sudden I'm dead to the things around me."

"Happens when you focus on stuff. I'm pretty unresponsive when I'm working."

Jade shook her head, her hair swishing back and forth behind her. "No, not like that. Sometimes I'm focused on work too, but it's something else. It'll feel like deja vu or like dreaming? I don't know how to describe it, but afterwards..."

There was a sudden crack where the room illuminated with eery green light, like neon green electricity.

He turned and it stood there.

"Holy fuck, Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed seeing Jade's beast standing there stoically. Glowing.

"Looks like our ride home is here. Like I was about to say," Jade got up and pet him, "Every time that happens, Bec shows up." She roughly pet her dog until he dropped the scary looming statue act, and began wagging his tail. "Good boy, Bec!"

"What the fuck Harley?"

They stopped messing around and she faced him. "Um... I don't know how to explain."

He tried his best to recollect himself as he stood up, not sure of what his next move would be.

It hit him.

"Harley... I know what you are. I'm not afraid."

"Um... Dave?"

"A werewolf." Not quite the line, but whatever.

Her face broke out into a huge smile and giggles erupted from her mouth. "Yes, Dave. I am a werewolf and I've come to suck your blood."

"Okay, now go pull a Michael Jackson and go all Thriller on this joint."

"I actually get that reference!"

"You better. It's the song of your people."

Jade's smile softened. "Take my hand now."

"Sweep me off my feet and have your way with me." He threw his arm out dramatically.

"Ew, Dave." He let himself smile as Jade took his hand and green light cracked around them until they were back in Jade's living room. Her dog was licking its own paw and back to normal. Jade's grasp on his hand remained firm and she was still smiling. He was too, though he had no idea what was going on.

-x.x.x.x.x.x-

So I felt really bad about how short the last chapter was and wrote this one, which is the longest. My boyfriend convinced me that I should put it up so if you liked it or hated it, blame him.. Thanks for the reviews still! All the mwahs!

Edit: Oh man, that had way too many typos. Tried to fix it as much as possible! Thanks for reading, and sorry if it's fast paced or confusing! If you don't understand where they are, look up the frog tower on Jade's island on the homestuck wiki! They're still hanging out on Day 1, so it seems like a lot to cram into here but you know... several Acts of Homestuck take place on one day too! Ehehe.