All Hail the Shifter King
Title: The Wrong Reasons
Word Count: 309
Crossposted here at runaway_tales
Note: Gavin's not taking the news well. Of course, I didn't include the news, so you can't really be a judge of that. But trust me. He's not taking it well.
She found Gavin sitting on the patio after the others had gone to bed, staring out across the field behind Eli's home to the rainforest, tapping an empty beer bottle against his shin. He glanced up at her, just briefly, his eyes troubled and his lips pinched, and when she sat beside him and offered the cold beer he took it with just a mumbled thanks. She watched him as he rolled the sweating bottle between his palms, showing no intention of drinking it, and finally she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulled him against her.
"You're taking this awfully hard," she said, her voice light and teasing. Gavin grunted and rolled his shoulders to dislodge her arm.
"I'm just trying to figure out if there's truth in a single word he said," he muttered. "Or if he's just fabulous at storytelling."
"Does it matter?" she asked, and when he started and stared at her as if she'd gone mad, she shrugged. "I mean, would it be so bad if it were true?"
"Are you serious? Do you have any idea how that would change things?" he asked. "Specifically, everything I've spent my life studying?"
"Gavin, these sorts of discoveries happen. Usually people are excited about it."
"Except it's hardly a discovery if you're not allowed to do anything about it," he pointed out. "What good is knowing if I'm just sworn to secrecy?" His fingers clenched at the bottle, and for a moment his shoulders tensed as if he were prepared to fling it out into the field - sighing, Katrina reached over and plucked it from his grip, setting it on the patio beside her.
"If the only reason you're upset is because you want to be the one to take credit for this," she told him, "then you're upset for all the wrong reasons."
Word Count: 309
Crossposted here at runaway_tales
Note: Gavin's not taking the news well. Of course, I didn't include the news, so you can't really be a judge of that. But trust me. He's not taking it well.
She found Gavin sitting on the patio after the others had gone to bed, staring out across the field behind Eli's home to the rainforest, tapping an empty beer bottle against his shin. He glanced up at her, just briefly, his eyes troubled and his lips pinched, and when she sat beside him and offered the cold beer he took it with just a mumbled thanks. She watched him as he rolled the sweating bottle between his palms, showing no intention of drinking it, and finally she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulled him against her.
"You're taking this awfully hard," she said, her voice light and teasing. Gavin grunted and rolled his shoulders to dislodge her arm.
"I'm just trying to figure out if there's truth in a single word he said," he muttered. "Or if he's just fabulous at storytelling."
"Does it matter?" she asked, and when he started and stared at her as if she'd gone mad, she shrugged. "I mean, would it be so bad if it were true?"
"Are you serious? Do you have any idea how that would change things?" he asked. "Specifically, everything I've spent my life studying?"
"Gavin, these sorts of discoveries happen. Usually people are excited about it."
"Except it's hardly a discovery if you're not allowed to do anything about it," he pointed out. "What good is knowing if I'm just sworn to secrecy?" His fingers clenched at the bottle, and for a moment his shoulders tensed as if he were prepared to fling it out into the field - sighing, Katrina reached over and plucked it from his grip, setting it on the patio beside her.
"If the only reason you're upset is because you want to be the one to take credit for this," she told him, "then you're upset for all the wrong reasons."