Doreen & Johnny

[x-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Doreen and Johnny race through the trees and then to the tree house. All in all enjoying a great afternoon.

Doreen was laughing. Something she hadn’t genuinely done in a long time. The local squirrels were finally warming up to her and she was literally skipping among some of the stronger branches in the woods. Monkey Joe followed her, keeping up with ease. And it felt new, like it had two years ago when she had been jumping the roof tops back home.

She laughed as she jumped from a high branch down towards the ground. The rushing feeling in her stomach like the drop on a roller coaster or a good ski slope. She landed, laughing as Monkey Joe stopped and looked down at her squeaking.

Doreen looked back up at him, her reddish brown hair all over, breaking free of the pony tail she had it in. “What? It’s still fun!”

Despite the rather poor outcome of his last trip into these woods, Johnny had eventually decided to consider the matter a fluke. And besides, he needed a place to curl up and finish the last of his reading assignments where he wouldn't get distracted and this high, isolated perch seemed to fit the bill. The Grimm Brothers weren't going to analyze themselves, after all. About half way through Hansel and Gretel, though, he heard something a short distance off. The sound of clattering tree branches and carefree laughter and a particularly chatty squirrel. The pieces were fairly easy to put together, but Johnny worked his way onto an outstretched limb and looked down before confirming the fact in his mind and calling playfully, "Hey, hey, what's with the all the ruckus?"

“Nothing,” Doreen returned, “Just having some fun,” she said looking up at the white haired boy. She gauged the distance from where she was to the lowest strongest branch on the tree she had stopped underneath and jumped up, about nine feet, and pulled herself onto the branch across from Johnny’s tree, “It’s too nice to be stuck inside. Don’t you think?”

Johnny grinned despite himself at the absurdity of their current positions, sprawled on the high branches of neighboring trees as if it were the most natural place in the world for two teenagers to share a conversation. Although, with their powers and Doreen's instincts, it probably wasn't the least. He closed his book, losing interest quickly in the cannibalistic fairytale with the prospect of company, "Yeah. And I have to admit, the nature thing is kind of growing on me too." He added, teasing, "Even if I can't talk to squirrels."

“Anyone can talk to anyone if they just know how to listen. Most people don’t,” Doreen said. “Not that I can understand every animal out there or anything, but… well, I guess it’s kind of confusing,” she said, as Monkey Joe made the way to a branch above her and she climbed to it easily, her claws sticking in the wood.

“How high do you think you can go?” she called back to Johnny, in a tone that was more ‘wanna race’?

Johnny tilted his head faintly, showing certain signs of bewilderment at the assertion, though he didn't question it....mostly because of the mischievous and competitive gleam in his classmate's eyes as she ventured her unexpected inquiry. He cracked a playful grin, looked up, then back at Doreen again, chiming, "To the top, of course."

Doreen smiled and put her claws in the wood, “I’m ready when you are,” she said with a grin. This was what she was made for. “Race you to the top of our trees!” and with that, she got started. Doreen was MADE for climbing. And she was fast.

After tossing his book rather carelessly down onto the limb, where it miraculously found some amount of balance, Johnny posed himself for movement and awaited Doreen's instructions. He set off before she could even get the full command out, his own approach seeming to be less climbing and more springing from branch to branch in neat, rebounding jumps. Still, whatever initial lead his sharp reflexes had given him, he quickly began to lose it. He could leap, but not like she could...though, that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

This was what she was built to do. And Doreen wasn’t paying attention to where Johnny was, just where she was and where Monkey Joe was and between leaping and clawing she made her way to the top of her tree, laughing. She was hanging from the highest stable branch, “Oh, this is so much fun!” she squeaked.

Johnny reached the top a few jumps behind Doreen. It was not a significant loss, but it was a clear one, and he did his best not to look sour as he pulled himself up onto the top limb whose strength seemed questionable at best. The brunette was beaming and there was reason to ruin that just because of a tinge of unwarranted jealousy. It was just a stupid race, after all. He put on a smile and shook his head as he caught his breath, "Racing a squirrel in a tree: what was I thinking? Nice job, Dori."

“You did great too,” Doreen said smiling, hanging from the branch and not bothering to pull herself up. She could easily, but that wasn’t the point. “You’re really okay up this far?” Doreen asked, “Most people aren’t. Well, Kyle is, but that’s different, I think he likes to climb trees too.”

Even if the teen did want to hold on to that ignored spark of envy, his teammate's carefree dangling and wide smile made it all but impossible. He could prove his worth another day, but for now enjoying her company seemed like a far more appealing and far less petty option. He relaxed upon his perch, his smile becoming genuine again, "I don't mind the height. I guess we're all a little vertigo-resistant."

“Cool,” Doreen said, looking down, picking a branch and dropping down, landing on her feet. She didn’t even have to have her arms out for balance. She walked on it like she was on the ground, light footed, carefree and not wavering a bit on the wood. Her tail did the work. “That means you and I can hang out up here sometime. Have you been to the tree house yet?” she asked cheerfully.

Johnny couldn't help but tease from his higher seat upon the branch, "Like now?" He shook his head at the question, though she couldn't see the gesture from her current place strolling back and forth along the worn path of bark, "I've heard about it, but I haven't gone yet. What about you?"

“I’ve been,” Doreen said. “It’s really neat, but I like going really, really far up. I can take you there if you want,” she said happily, picking up Monkey Joe who came up and sat in front of feet until she did. He sat on her shoulder, looking content.

"Sure. Lead the way." Johnny watched the squirrel scamper up the girl's arm and settle happily on her shoulder and grinned, adding, "If Monkey Joe doesn't mind, of course."

“Of course he doesn’t. He hangs on for the ride.” Doreen said cheerfully as she started running through the branches.

Johnny laughed softly before following suit. He slid easily off of his own branch and onto another and started quickly after her, doing his best to keep up and carrying himself with almost the same ease along the narrow limbs. Almost. The brunette moved like she had lived in such an environment all her life, her furry passenger seeming unmoved by the swift ride.

It didn’t take Doreen long to get there. The tree house was a bit below where they were in the branches. “There we are,” she said, “We’ll have to drop down a bit to get in. But isn’t this place great?”

The tree house was a surprisingly impressive sight, neatly built and securely holding to the tree upon which it relied. But in a place like this, Johnny supposed with faint amusement, it would have to be. Or it wouldn't last a day. He smiled and started the quick descent downward, quipping easily, "Well, I'll have to see the inside before I can call it great."

“It is, I promise,” Doreen said, heading down too. The longer she was here the better she liked it. She hoped it was the same for Johnny.