Collect Food And Clean Water: Part Three (Just Like Old Times)
Author's Note: Hey all! Got another long one for you! I wasn't sure how exactly to split up this part so, I guess we're just doing two longer chapters versus three short ones. It just works out better plot wise this way! Anyways… I hope you enjoy! This one's kind of a roller-coaster, but oh well! It's so fun to explore JD and Clay's relationship, so that's what I did!
Also, just wanted to say, thank you all for the kind comments. They really do help motivate me. Like John Dory (shocker) I'm like, a huge perfectionist, and it's always nice to know you guys actually like what I'm writing! So ty, ty, TY and enjoy!
John Dory couldn't help but yawn as they walked through the woods, annoyed at how heavy his body felt. Years of living out in the wilderness taught him that the best way to survive was to be quick on your feet, able to react to danger within a split second of it happening. He wasn't feeling any of that right now, his growing headache making his brain feel slow and fuzzy.
But at least he was doing a heck of a lot better than Clay.
It soon became apparent that Clay had literally no survival skills. JD was honestly surprised by how unfamiliar Clay appeared to be out in the woods, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Clay never lived out in the woods like he did, or even like the other Pop Trolls did. For the longest time, he stayed holed up in that Putt Putt course with Viva. So now John Dory had another distraction on top of the original one; keep Clay from getting himself killed on this outing.
"Do you even know where we're going, JD?" Clay was reading from a book in his hands, clearly not paying any attention to where he was going. "This says we should be looking for some sort of water source; that's where the fruit trees will be."
"Of course I know where we're going," John Dory replied with a huff. He didn't actually, but he had a pretty good idea. He pushed a prickly branch out of the way before Clay ran face first into it. "And I guarantee you you're not going to find it in that book."
Clay rolled his eyes, not looking up from the pages. "Yeah yeah, sure, I guess we'll just 'follow your lead' then, shall we?" he said sarcastically.
John Dory flinched slightly at these words, his ears drooping as a sense of guilt began to manifest in his gut. When he didn't reply, Clay looked up at him, confused.
"That was supposed to be a joke," he explained sheepishly.
"Oh, heh, good one," John Dory laughed awkwardly.
Clay smiled, burying his nose back in his book as he strode forward. John Dory turned to follow him just as movement caught his eye.
"Clay! Watch it, man!" John Dory said suddenly, grabbing his brother by his sweater milliseconds before the wild-haired troll walked himself right under a large, most likely troll-eating flower critter. He pulled his machete out from his hair, snarling, practically daring the creature to try him. The critter rolled its eyes at him, sulking at being denied its rightful meal.
"Dionaea muscipula!" Clay chirped excitedly from behind him, flipping through his book till he found a specific page. "These flowers are incredibly rare, you know!"
"And they will definitely eat you," John Dory replied in an exasperated voice, refusing to take his eyes off the "rare" flower. "Does your book say that?"
"Mmm, it says they're 'opportunistic feeders'," Clay read out, looking up at the flower critter, no longer smiling. "Oh. Heh, whoops."
John Dory quickly shuttled his brother away from the critter, shooting one last glare over his shoulder. "Yeah, let's just assume everything in this forest wants to kill you, ok Clay?"
"That seems like a pretty bleak mindset to have, don't you think?" Clay countered with a scoff.
"Got me this far, didn't it?" John Dory replied, sheathing the large machete back into his hair. "You like serious? Well, nothing is more 'serious' than nature. For example…" John Dory gestured to a bush by Clay's feet. "Poison berries…" He pointed up to the sky. "Predatory birds…" He then gestured behind him towards the flower critter. "Troll-eating flower."
Clay blinked at him, looking surprised.
"What?" John Dory asked nervously, his ears burning slightly.
"Nothing, I just, I guess I haven't seen you go all 'survivalist mode' before," Clay replied, cocking his head to the side. "It's just kind of weird; seeing you so serious. I didn't know you had it in you."
"What? I can be serious," John Dory insisted, motioning for Clay to follow him. He flicked his ears around, listening for running water. That's where they'd find the food for Branch.
"Yeah, sometimes," Clay replied, following along behind him, his clambering steps a stark difference to John Dory's smooth, quiet stride. He made his way up next to JD, watching him as they walked. "But this is different. It's like, a whole new side to you I've never seen before." Clay smiled, his eyes shimmering. "It's kind of cool."
John Dory felt his face split into a grin. "You think I'm cool?" he teased, and Clay immediately rolled his eyes.
"Ugh, no. I think you're insufferable," Clay responded, his gaze growing distant. "But it is kind of cool to see how much we've both changed."
I haven't changed as much as you think… John Dory thought, the grin dropping from his face as his mood suddenly soured. He quickly shook his head, trying to focus on his task. He pricked his ears up again. There, water. He strode off towards the sound, his brother jogging to keep up.
"So, you said Bruce and Floyd were doing well?" Clay asked curiously. "What'd you guys do?"
John Dory 's thoughts immediately shifted back to the conversation he'd had with Bruce, his heart skipping a beat. He quickened his step, trying not to think about it.
"We just, talked, I guess," he said vaguely, hoping his answer would suffice and they could talk about something else.
"About what?" Clay pressed, clearly not satisfied.
"Uh, just, old stuff. Stuff from the past, y'know?" John Dory continued, walking a bit faster across the soft forest floor. "Nothing important."
"Oh." Came Clay's reply, a strange tone to his voice. "I see." He sped up a bit so he could continue to walk at JD's side in silence, his brows knitted together in concentration. John Dory could feel his brother's eyes on him, scanning him up and down the same way Branch often did. Like he was analyzing his brother's every move. JD really hoped he didn't look as tense as he felt.
After a moment, Clay's eyes softened, a slight hint of hesitant concern to his expression. "Y'know, JD… you don't look so well," he said slowly, as if he was worried about how his brother would react. "Have you been getting enough sleep lately?"
John Dory felt himself stiffen. He hadn't expected Clay to ask him that. He and Clay never talked about things like this the way Bruce or Floyd or even Branch seemed to do. He and his brother teased each other. They pushed each other's buttons. They didn't talk about stuff like this. He must look really bad for Clay to say something about it. John Dory shook his head, trying to play it off best he could. "'Course I have," he lied, hopping up onto a log before pulling Clay up with him. "Why do you ask?"
"You have eyebags," Clay droned, unconvinced. "And you're like, completely on edge. More so than usual. Like with Bitty B earlier; what was that all about?"
"Oh yeah, that," John Dory replied, letting out a dry laugh. "Just trying to help out a bit, y'know?" He tried to smile, but he could feel his cheeks starting to hurt and was sure it came out more like a grimace. He cleared his throat, making his voice light. "And besides, I'm old, Clay. I always look tired."
"I'm serious, John," Clay said, his voice slightly strained. "You don't look good."
"Thanks, Clay, I know, I–" In his distraction, John Dory tripped over a branch sticking out from the log, falling forward and ungracefully tumbling to the ground. He lay there for a moment, annoyance flooding through his veins as he let out an irritated sigh. He was so tired.
"You alright?" Clay asked, peeking over the edge down at him.
"Fine," John Dory replied through gritted teeth, forcing himself to jump to his feet and look around. His gaze was met with a small, glittering lake, a grove of trees and bushes teeming with fruit lining the edge, their branches stretching out over the water. He'd found it. He felt a sudden sense of relief, spinning back towards Clay with a grin. "Aha, look! I knew I could do it!" he exclaimed, almost a little too loudly as he let out a nearly hysterical laugh. He pulled out Branch's list, giving it a look over as he gestured for Clay to follow him, grateful for the good timing. "C'mon, Clay! No more dilly-dallying! We've got work to do!"
Thirty minutes later…
"Clay, this isn't working."
Clay didn't look at him as he continued to focus on what he was doing. "Yeah? What makes you say that?"
John Dory massaged his forehead briefly before gesturing dramatically to the two, meager jars of berries they'd managed to gather. "Look at this! At this rate, we're going to be here all day!"
"Well, it's not my fault!" Clay replied defensively, finally bringing his gaze up to his older brother. "You're being too picky! If you didn't spend five seconds staring at every berry you picked–"
"I'm trying to pick the good ones!" John Dory replied in exasperation. "I'm not giving Bitty B a jar of okay berries. And what about you? This would go a lot quicker if you helped me pick, not just recount every one!"
"I wouldn't have to recount them if you just counted them in the first place!" Clay shot back.
"I did count," John Dory huffed. "There's like, a hundred fifty in there."
Clay blinked. "Wow, that's actually spot on."
"Really?" John Dory asked, surprised.
"No!" Clay snapped, causing John Dory to let out a grumble. "Look, do you want a proper count or not? Because I guarantee you, Bitty B will," Clay retorted, turning back to his task. John Dory let out an irritated huff, and his brother seemed to take that as a win, an annoying smirk on his face. "Now go make yourself useful, and stop distracting me."
John Dory rolled his eyes with a groan, massaging his tired face. To be fair, this was working out the way he planned. His brain was definitely distracted. But now, he was so stressed about actually getting this "fake task" completed to perfection that he hadn't thought once about the other issue looming over his head. Well, up until this moment, that is. Now he was thinking about it again.
"Ugh, I'm going to go grab something else," John Dory mumbled, pushing himself to his feet as he tried to chase the thoughts from his mind. He pulled the list out from his hair as Clay hummed a few notes of a song. At least his brother seemed to be enjoying himself. He slowly read through the remaining items, feeling his shoulders tense.
"We're never going to get all of this in time," he muttered, his hands tightening a bit on the notebook.
"Well, it's not like we have to get it all today," Clay chimed in. "We can just grab what we can and head home."
"But I told Branch we'd get it for him," John Dory replied with a frown, absently grabbing at his hair. "I don't want to let him down."
Clay's ears perked up, and he turned towards John Dory, his face unreadable. "Branch didn't even really want us to do this in the first place," he said, his voice level. "Why are you stressing out about this? This was supposed to be relaxing, remember?"
That's what I thought… John Dory sighed, tucking the notepad back up in his hair. "The list mentions glitter-fruit, but I'm pretty sure it just went out of season," he said half to himself, trying to change the subject. He scanned the grove, spotting a glitter-fruit tree just a few feet away. He turned away, feeling Clay's eyes boring into the back of his head as he walked off towards the tree.
He quickly climbed up the rough bark and onto the first branch, his body protesting slightly at the strenuous movement. Hanging from the shimmering leaves were small, golden fruits, sparkling in the fading sunlight. He grabbed one, feeling it gently with his good hand. Yep, definitely out of season. The fruit was practically limp, almost like a beanbag, with a tough outer skin and a grainy, glitter-filled inside. They must have just missed it.
He caressed the fruit gently with his hand, memories from his dream last night flooding into his brain. He couldn't help but smile as he thought about him and his brothers racing around the Troll Tree, their laughter echoing off the branches. He missed that feeling; that feeling of just mindless fun. When was the last time he'd just done something for fun? He couldn't even remember.
John Dory considered this, his smile falling as he stared down at the fruit in his hand. Its bright hue contrasted greatly against the dullness radiating from his palm. He quickly pulled his gaze away, letting out an irritated hiss. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about that. He was supposed to be thinking about literally anything else. Stupid, stupid brain, what more of a distraction did it need?!
The sun would set soon, and then they'd have to go back, and then he'd have to talk to Branch. If he didn't have this whole gray-situation figured out by then, he was screwed. He was running out of time to fix this. He didn't have time to be thinking about "fun."
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. Maybe… that was what he needed. To do something fun. He'd been happy back then, hadn't he? Maybe he needed to chase that feeling. Distract himself even more. Do something so fun his body can't help but become colorful again. He turned to look down at Clay, then back to the fruit in his hand, a grin stretching across his face.
"Y'know, these old glitter-fruits are only good for one thing," he called slyly, tossing the fruit back and forth.
"Oh yeah? What's that?" Clay replied, not looking up.
John Dory caught the fruit in his hand, lining up the shot, then immediately chucked it at his brother, hitting him in the middle of his back, the fruit exploding into a cloud of sparkling golden glitter.
Clay whipped around in surprise, coughing as clouds of glitter floated around him. "What the heck, man?!" he yelled, eyes narrowed. He quickly ruffled his hair, causing more and more glitter to fall around him. "This is going to take weeks to come out! Ugh, and you got glitter in the food!"
"C'mon, Clay!" John Dory called, grabbing a few more glitter-fruits for his arsenal. "Let's take a break! You wanted me to relax, right?"
"Not like this!" Clay choked out, still coughing up glitter.
"Well, I find pelting you with glitter-fruits very relaxing," John Dory replied, tossing another down at his brother. Clay quickly jumped out of the way, the fruit exploding as it hit the ground.
"Knock it off, JD, I'm not doing this!" Clay said, sitting back down with a pout. "Unlike you, I'm trying to focus. You almost made me lose count!"
"C'mon, Clay, humor me!" John Dory called, his eyes shining in anticipation. "It'll be just like old times!"
"Yeah, old times, right." Clay laughed harshly. "I told you, JD, I've changed, remember? Or did you conveniently forget? I'm a serious troll; I don't do fun."
John Dory reeled himself back in a bit. "Well, I know that," he replied, the teasing tone gone from his voice.
Clay was quiet for a moment before turning to look back at him. "You do?" he asked, almost surprised.
"Of course I do," John Dory continued. "You've changed a lot, and I respect that." He felt a smile stretch across his face. "I'm… really proud of you, y'know? That you figured out who you are. It's uh…" He chuckled a bit, remembering Clay's word's from before, "It's kinda cool, getting to know this other side of you."
Clay seemed completely taken aback, for once in his life struck speechless. John Dory took that as a good sign and kept going.
"I know you're serious now, but does that mean you're not allowed to have any fun?" he asked, giving his brother an encouraging grin as he tossed a glitter-fruit in his hand.
Clay looked between John Dory and the fruit, and JD could practically see the sparkle of excitement in his eyes. But instead, Clay turned away, focusing back on his task. John Dory's face dropped for a moment, before an idea popped into his head. His face broke into a sly, determined smile. He pulled his arm back, and without a second thought, threw another fruit his brother's way. It smacked into Clay's shoulder, exploding with a puff, and the wild-haired troll whipped back around angrily, brushing glitter from his face.
"I told you, I'm not doing this!" Clay said with a glare, brushing more glitter from his arms.
"Fine, fine," John Dory said, shrugging in mock defeat. "I understand. I guess I just win then."
Clay paused, his eyes narrowing even further. "What?" he said, his voice low.
"Well, you forfeit, so that means I automatically win," John Dory explained, holding up his hands defensively. "Sorry, I don't make the rules."
"What rules? There's no rules, you–" Clay sputtered, climbing to his feet. "You don't 'win' just because I refused to play."
"Look man, don't hate the player," John Dory replied with a smug grin. "The rules state that I win, end of story. I mean, it would have turned out like this anyways, right? We're just… skipping to the end."
John Dory saw a fire light in his brother's eyes. Yep, there it was. Clay's incredibly competitive nature. Clay was serious now, there was no doubt about that, but his brother also couldn't sit idly by and watch someone like JD take the winner's crown without giving him a fight. There was nothing Clay was more serious about than fun.
John Dory tossed the glitter-fruit back and forth in his hands. "Well, that is…" he said slowly, shooting his brother a look. "Unless you really think you could beat me." Without warning, he threw the fruit at Clay, aiming for his brother's chest. But instead, Clay caught it expertly with his hair, his eyes shimmering with anticipation.
"Oh, I don't think so," Clay replied, a smile stretching across his face. "I know I can beat you."
"Then why don't you come up here and prove it?" John Dory taunted, grabbing another fruit.
There was a certain energy crackling between their eyes, like they were waiting for each other to make the first move. Finally, without either of them having to say anything, it was on, and they both leapt into action.
Clay ducked to the left, racing to climb up onto the tree. John Dory took this moment to grab an armful of the fruit before climbing to higher branches. His heart leapt with excitement as he watched Clay crawl up behind him, already armed to the teeth.
"You are going to regret this, JD," Clay said ominously, his eyes intense.
John Dory just grinned back at him before hurling a fruit his way, his brother just barely dodging it. "Yeah, we'll see about that," he shot back.
He took off, hearing Clay clambering up behind him. On instinct, he shifted into an almost stealth mode, his footsteps becoming light, and his movements becoming calculated and quiet as he weaved amongst the leaves. He managed to sneak up behind Clay, nailing his brother twice before he even noticed him.
"How do you do that?" Clay asked, bewildered.
"Just naturally skilled I guess," John Dory boasted, puffing himself up a bit. Unfortunately, this left himself open for Clay to tag him, the fruit exploding across his chest and almost knocking him off the branch. He coughed a bit, looking up just in time to dodge another one flying past his head. "Wha… cheap shot, Clay."
"You're just slow," Clay taunted, hand on his hip.
"Oh ho, I'll show you slow," John Dory growled, his face curling into a grin. He took off after Clay, chasing him through the tree. He couldn't help but let a laugh escape his aching lungs, forcing himself to run faster. This was exactly what he needed.
They practically took turns chasing each other amongst the branches, each one managing to land some good hits on the other. Soon, they were both covered head to toe with the sparkling golden glitter, their faces matching looks of playful excitement. JD clambered after Clay as his brother leapt up onto a different branch, sprinting around the trunk of the tree.
He turned the corner, nearly backpedaling as he saw Clay standing there, pulling something from his hair…
"A golf club?!" he exclaimed. "That's cheating!"
"Sorry, JD, I don't make the rules," Clay replied, a wild look on his face as he swung, sending fruit after fruit careening after John Dory. JD quickly ran out towards the edge of the branch, hiding amongst the foliage. His brother was scarily accurate with that thing.
John Dory leapt behind a larger leaf, watching as Clay walked past him. He had two fruits left in his hands; he had to make them count. Lucky for him, he had a plan. He threw one by Clay's feet, causing his brother to look down for just a moment. As he did, he chucked the other one right at Clay's back, smacking him dead on. Clay stumbled forward, tripping over his feet, and with a startled yelp, fell off the branch, crashing into the water below with a loud splash.
"Ha ha! Who's slow now?!" John Dory cheered, breathless. As he did, he felt like the world swirled a bit, and he had to set his hands on his knees for a moment before he fell over. Ok, maybe he did overdo it a bit, but it was worth it. He shook his head, still laughing as he walked to the end of the branch, laying down and waiting for his brother to resurface.
He felt amazing. This really was just what he needed. A fun distraction. His colors had to be back now, right? He peeked down at his arm, hanging over the side of the branch, feeling his smile fall.
The gray was still there.
He stared at his trembling hands, that heavy feeling of dread in his gut again. It didn't work… Why didn't it work? He'd been happy, so the gray should have gone away. It shouldn't still be here… This was supposed to work. He gritted his teeth in frustration. What was he supposed to do now?
He looked back towards the lake, feeling like all the joy from earlier had been sucked out of him. He'd really messed up now. The distraction didn't work. His brothers were going to find out, and they were going to be so, so disappointed in him. Branch, and Clay…
Suddenly, icy panic shot through his veins, yanking him out from his own head. He pushed himself up with a jolt, scanning the surface of the water. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
Clay…
Clay hadn't resurfaced yet.