It's far less sunny today than on that other fateful day, autumn tugging at the leaves of trees. Tirelessly, Dakarai has stalked from the lack of glory that is his apartment block, up the road toward the route winding its way up to Mount Black, right hand hooked into his pocket, left swaying lazily beside him. He's barely bothering to keep a close eye on Fracture, as though he were entirely unafraid of her fleeing… or perhaps confident that she wouldn't be able to run far?
Fracture walks silently behind her trainer, head lowered but she is looking where she is going. She pauses for a second, flicking a look up to him before she resumes moving, staying silent the entire time. Switching the bone club to her other shoulder, she slouches slightly gritting her teeth against a shiver that runs through her, even as fear pours from her.
After a while of walking, the urban landscape has faded around them. A lone, mostly broken down wood shed lies nuzzled against the treeline of the broad, winding gravel pathway. Dakarai's pace slows to a stop, gaze finding the shed and lingering on it, making no effort to step closer. Instead, he extends his right arm toward Fracture's general direction, palm pointing up, fingers hinting a curl. “Come here and give me your bone.”
Fracture blinks as he stops then looks around before back at him as he speaks. She snarls then, but only lowly and backs a step, grip on the bone tightening. “<My bone. Mine.>” She glares at him and backs another step, not looking away from him and the snarl growing in intensity. Her other forepaw glitters slightly, yellow sparks rolling around it.
Dakarai slides his gaze sideways toward the pokémon, arching a brow at the sounds it is making. “I don't speak your language, creature,” he remarks, with the bitterness of patience worn thin, hand still rested in the air expectingly. It's not that he couldn't tell the critter was complaining - but why bother adding that to his words? The point would remain the same.
Fracture narrows her eyes and backs another step, eyes glittering. The sparks along the forepaw leap up her arm as the actual paw glows a little. She swallows then, whining softly, calming herself before she steps closer and holds out the bone, cowering slightly, shoulders hunching. She falls silent and crouches, head lowered.
Dakarai latches his sideways glance firmly on Fracture, grimace curling his lips slightly, right shoulder touched by a twitch as if he were keeping himself from doing something more than the motion ultimately culminates in - his hand snaps toward the bone, spidery fingers locking around the sun-bleached and weathered item, yanking it from Fracture's paws. “Thank you,” he remarks, though it's a venomous two words, likely more sarcastic than not. One end of the bone comes to abrupt rest in his previously free hand. His gaze is cast toward the shed. “Can you improvise, I wonder?” he remarks, evidently more to himself. “Bonemerang on that shed,” he instructs, voice flat and unemotional.
Fracture glares up at him then looks around as she pushes to her feet before she grabs a small piece of wood from the ground, looking at it with disgust radiating from her. She straightens then, one forepaw stretched in front of her before she throws the stick in an arc, it hitting the building and breaking. She edges towards the building then, shivering slightly.
“That wasn't very good,” Dakarai mutters, his grip on the bone tightening a bit in a pulsing motion of muscles, his brows furrowing. He clears his throat with a brief rumble from within, before repeating his command. “Bonemerang on that shed, Fracture.” A second chance was a sensible thing to give the creature.
Fracture exhales and picks up a sturdier piece of wood then backs a step, her eyes closing as she summoned the energy to do as she was told. She let go of the wood as she opened her eyes, watching the stick crash through one wall. She straightens then picks up another stick , resting it against one shoulder, shrugging the other one.
He chuckles wrly, watching the pokémon's attempts. “You're really quite helpless without your bone, aren't you?” he remarks, dryly, unimpressed. “Come here,” he says, frowning slightly. “And bring that stick with you.”
Fracture cringes and walks over to her trainer, remaining silent though. Not looking up at him, she stops in front of the tall man, the stick dropping from her shoulder even as a very soft whimper slips from her before it is is swallowed and she looks up at him, amber eyes glittering coldly.
Holding the bone in the hand that had not seized it, loosely, he leans forward and toward the pokémon with unchanging expression, extending his hand in much the same way as before. “Give here,” he remarks, words in prompt succession, almost snapped at her.
Fracture cringes and hands over the stick, silently, crouching a little, cowering away from him, fear radiating from her. Shifting uneasily, she scuttles backwards finally looking back up at him with wide eyes. She stays silent though.
“You want it to glide,” he says, crouching down, fixing Fracture with a piercing gaze. “It has to glide before you can make it even begin to follow a return path,” he explains. “You'd be surprised,” he continues talking, even as he shifts from his crouch to a kneel, trapping the bone between his legs, shifting his gaze to the stick instead, beginning to inspect it from all sides. “A bone doesn't make for a good boomerang at all, so watch closely.” - 'Is this thing even understanding what I say?' he finds himself wondering, quasi-bitterly, shrugging slightly in response to his inner question. “First step is to flatten it.”
Fracture blinks at him, listening intently and trying hard to understand although she does understand the main part of what he is saying. Calm starts to steal its way through her and she tilts her head slightly not looking away from even at all, not even blinking.
His thumb nail slides between the frayed fibres of wood at one end of the stick, pinching some of them against the side of his hand. Tension enters his arms, and a moment later, he's pulling at the fibres, evidently trying to pull the stick apart in some fashion, to flatten the side of it that used to be on the inside.
Fracture watches for several seconds then edges closer to him, swallowing hard, flicking a look up to his face then back to the stick, all without that she makes any noise. Becoming calmer she lets her shoulders slump, forepaws resting on the ground, raking at it slightly although she is still paying close attention to Dakarai.