Winter 23, 514 AV The sun was shining behind an overcast sky, occasionally peeking out to remind the world that it was still there. Kennen however, wasn't able to observe the shy sun as he was busy in the kennels. Ever since that fateful meeting with Timothy that set him on the track of attracting Kavala's attention, he had been busy making himself useful. He had originally had dreams of walking in and just being trusted, entailed to taking care of the birds that The Sanctuary kept, but that dream had reasonably been curbed. Kavala had accepted him into her business, and given him a home here for as long as he wished to accept it, but he wasn't in charge of the birds. In fact, he had no direct access to the birds alone. He had been relegated to the position of Kennel and Mew cleaner, cleaning up after the dogs and birds that the place kept. It wasn't so bad, he had certainly had worse jobs to do before, but it stung. He had managed to get his hopes so high that any sort of blow had had devastating effects. The monotonous work actually gave him time to reflect on his recent behavior. While he certainly did trust the people he was with, ever since he'd arrived in Riverfall he had just been blindly accepting what everyone was saying. He hadn't even been that way with his master, in fact his last beating had been because he had doubted his masters plan and tried to improve upon them. Certainly some of this could be blamed on his happiness, and that was definitely true. He was so exuberant to have gotten so far so fast, and to be so much closer to his end goal, but it couldn't explain it all. Whatever it was causing him to place so much faith in those around him, it was also causing him to get angry at the smallest of things. He liked to believe that he knew his temper well, and when he got angry it was a slow burn. It would flare up suddenly, before settling into a steady blaze until it burned everything in its way. But lately, it had been even more erratic. The smallest mentions of dishonesty, the chance that he'd have a set back, a store running out of a food item, all of it had set him off. But not in his usual way, it had been sharp anger, burning brightly and causing him to do something dumb, before leaving just as soon as it had come. It definitely wasn't right, and he had to figure out what it was. Maybe it was puberty? He thought he was old enough for it to be that, and he hoped he would soon grow some. He was still small, and thin, and being around the Akalaks had shown just how small he really was. He wanted muscles, and to be tall, to be a man like them and to not have to worry about it. So maybe his weird mood swings was just a sign of that happening, it had to be. And his thoughts for his new friend, Timothy, was another source deserving scrutiny. He certainly owed Timothy a lot, without him he'd probably have returned to Riverfall and never met Kavala. But, his friend was a little odd. He seemed to get excited over the weirdest things, and treated every meal like it was his last. Perhaps he had been like one of the children he'd often seen on the Sunberthian streets, starving and underfed. That was one thing he had never had to worry about, no matter how disobedient he'd been he was fed. After all, if his master wanted him dead it wouldn't be through starvation but rather a simple knife through the throat. As his thoughts turned to Timothy, a small smile spread over his lips. Despite all the oddities Timothy displayed, he was his first true friend. Perhaps Timothy didn't think so, but Kennen knew deep down this was so. He had decided he and Timothy would be friends, and now that he had made up his mind there was no way Timothy was going to get away that easily. But he hadn't had time in the last few days to search Timothy out, he had been to busy getting used to his new home. He had seen Timothy around the compound, it'd be impossible not to when they both lived there, but hadn't had a real chance since his birthday to do anything fun. Maybe after he got done here, he'd go out and find his friend and surprise him. During the time all these thoughts were passing through his head, Kennen had been busy cleaning out the kennels. The dogs were out for there daily exercise, running off energy in the morning sun before the weather got to bad, and that made it the perfect time to straighten everything out. He had to clean up the waste the dogs inevitably produced, and make sure there was water in the kennels along with the various amounts of food the dogs would require after they got back, and that all meant he had a lot of time to just think. After all, brushing the floor didn't take to much thought to do correctly, and his mind was a whir. And the entire time he's cleaning, he'd be whistling to himself, a tune he'd heard as a child and he'd kept all this time. The whistles reminiscent of birds singing in the trees. While he's doing that however, he wouldn't actively notice himself doing it. His mind busy with all the thoughts that were running through it. |