FAKE Ficlet: In The Mountains
Title: In The Mountains
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Ryo is a lot more at home in the wilderness than Dee will ever be.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 680: Wilderness at slashthedrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Unlike most of his colleagues, Ryo’s idea of heaven was to get out of the Big Apple whenever possible to visit national parks, and to hike or camp in the woods and mountains; he far preferred the natural landscape to the urban jungle. He’d grown up in the suburbs and had enjoyed many family vacations to remote and unspoiled wilderness areas.
Dee was the opposite, having grown up at Mother Lane’s inner-city orphanage. New York was more than his home; it was his natural habitat. The city streets could be dangerous, but the dangers were familiar ones, and he could navigate them with relative safety. He knew his way around, could easily get to wherever he wanted to go, knew all the best places to eat… New York had everything he could possibly need, and more.
And yet, when Ryo wanted to get away from it all, leave the city, its garbage, and its air pollution behind to breathe the untainted mountain air, Dee went with, no matter that it was as far out of his comfort zone as he could get.
He had to admit that the fresh, clean air smelled good, heavy with the heady scent of wild columbine, which he wouldn’t have known if Ryo hadn’t told him, and the resinous aroma of spruce, cedar, or some other evergreen. The quiet was sort of eerie at first though, no sounds but birds singing, bees buzzing, and the crunch of dead leaves and twigs underfoot.
Not all of the crunching sounds came from beneath his or Ryo’s boots though, and that last one certainly hadn’t. Dee knew, because he and Ryo had stopped to rest on a rocky outcropping, halfway up a steep slope, and the sound had come from somewhere in the woods off to their left.
He stared in that direction, trying to penetrate the shadows beneath the trees, and grabbed Ryo’s arm. “What was that sound?”
Ryo shrugged, smiling lazily, seeming perfectly at home. “Probably just an animal.”
“Animal? You mean like a bear, or a wolf?”
“No, Dee, nothing like that. There aren’t any bears or wolves around here. Could have been a deer, a fox, or a raccoon, but they mostly move around at night, so it was more likely a squirrel, or a rabbit.”
“You sure?”
“Well, it could be another hiker. We aren’t the only people out here; it’s not that far from the city.” With only one day off, it hadn’t been possible to go far, not if they wanted to have a decent amount of time to enjoy the fresh air and the scenery.
“Okay, I guess you’d know.” Dee tried to relax.
“I do.” Ryo smiled reassuringly. “I came out here with my parents dozens of times growing up, because it’s close enough to home for a day trip while still being mostly unspoiled wilderness. Now stop worrying.”
“Sorry, I’m just not used to this.”
“I noticed, but give it a chance; you might find you like it.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Ryo is a lot more at home in the wilderness than Dee will ever be.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 680: Wilderness at slashthedrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Unlike most of his colleagues, Ryo’s idea of heaven was to get out of the Big Apple whenever possible to visit national parks, and to hike or camp in the woods and mountains; he far preferred the natural landscape to the urban jungle. He’d grown up in the suburbs and had enjoyed many family vacations to remote and unspoiled wilderness areas.
Dee was the opposite, having grown up at Mother Lane’s inner-city orphanage. New York was more than his home; it was his natural habitat. The city streets could be dangerous, but the dangers were familiar ones, and he could navigate them with relative safety. He knew his way around, could easily get to wherever he wanted to go, knew all the best places to eat… New York had everything he could possibly need, and more.
And yet, when Ryo wanted to get away from it all, leave the city, its garbage, and its air pollution behind to breathe the untainted mountain air, Dee went with, no matter that it was as far out of his comfort zone as he could get.
He had to admit that the fresh, clean air smelled good, heavy with the heady scent of wild columbine, which he wouldn’t have known if Ryo hadn’t told him, and the resinous aroma of spruce, cedar, or some other evergreen. The quiet was sort of eerie at first though, no sounds but birds singing, bees buzzing, and the crunch of dead leaves and twigs underfoot.
Not all of the crunching sounds came from beneath his or Ryo’s boots though, and that last one certainly hadn’t. Dee knew, because he and Ryo had stopped to rest on a rocky outcropping, halfway up a steep slope, and the sound had come from somewhere in the woods off to their left.
He stared in that direction, trying to penetrate the shadows beneath the trees, and grabbed Ryo’s arm. “What was that sound?”
Ryo shrugged, smiling lazily, seeming perfectly at home. “Probably just an animal.”
“Animal? You mean like a bear, or a wolf?”
“No, Dee, nothing like that. There aren’t any bears or wolves around here. Could have been a deer, a fox, or a raccoon, but they mostly move around at night, so it was more likely a squirrel, or a rabbit.”
“You sure?”
“Well, it could be another hiker. We aren’t the only people out here; it’s not that far from the city.” With only one day off, it hadn’t been possible to go far, not if they wanted to have a decent amount of time to enjoy the fresh air and the scenery.
“Okay, I guess you’d know.” Dee tried to relax.
“I do.” Ryo smiled reassuringly. “I came out here with my parents dozens of times growing up, because it’s close enough to home for a day trip while still being mostly unspoiled wilderness. Now stop worrying.”
“Sorry, I’m just not used to this.”
“I noticed, but give it a chance; you might find you like it.
The End