Slowly, the teen pulled his knees into his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs. He rocked back and forth a little, basking in the relative silence around him, the sunshine, the warmth of the rock beneath him, and the general tranquility. His name was Davage, and right now he was loving his new house. He hadn't liked the move itself. Sure it was only a couple of hours away from his old house, but it was still too far for him to visit most of his old friends. Still, he loved being on hillsides, and his backyard went right up into a canyon. It wasn't huge, he could get to the top in about eight minutes, but it was still fun just poking around and exploring. His head jerked up as a loud screech sounded overhead. A hawk was dive-bombing and attacking another smaller bird, probably over territory. A gust updraft forced his light brown hair to go flying all over the place. He usually kept it pretty short and spiked it, but it was starting to get long again. It was probably time for another haircut.
He hopped off his perch on the boulder and grabbed a stick he'd found previously. There was something about carrying a stick that was so appealing whenever he was clambering around in nature. The rough bark scratched against his skin as he practiced his twirls. Of course if this were a real broad sword the weight would be completely different, as well as the grip, the aerodynamics... But he wasn't going to bring his sword into the canyon. It was a rather bizarre idea now that he entertained it.
Half an hour later he was still trailing his way away from home. The canyon followed the closest main street, mission something road. He hadn't been paying attention to anything on their move to this house, it was late and he'd been tired. Now he was regretting that, he didn't have an idea where anything was. As he was approaching a corner on the trail, a gray-furred blur rushed around the corner and came at him. Davage game a small yelp of surprise, immediately jumping back. At first he thought it was a coyote, but as the animal got closer he realized it was just a dog. It was a little smaller than a Labrador, but he had no idea what species it was.
"Hey buddy." Davage said, kneeling down to let the dog smell his hand. It had a collar, definitely belonged to someone. The dog gave a small satisfied woof and licked Davage's hand, tail wagging cheerily as if to say 'Hey, I like you!'
A brown-haired boy came bolting around the corner, calling "Jack you stupid dog!.." The dog turned its attention from Davage and ran over to the other boy with another woof. "I know you know your way around, but can't you just stay close by?" The teenager bent down to scratch Jack behind the ears. The dog gazed at his owner with adoring eyes. Chuckling, the boy looked up and noticed Davage for the first time. "Oh, hey! Uh... Sorry, my dog likes to break away from me all the time... I'm Jake by the way." He appeared friendly enough, but made no move to offer a hand to shake. "I'm Davage.. I just moved in near here." He added, seeing the way Jake was giving him the once-over. He was glad he was introducing himself verbally, anyone reading a nametag or something similar always pronounced his name wrong.
"Oh really?" Jake's face brightened up a little, "That's awesome. There's a few kids around this neighborhood but you know, like... Well they're just not close to my age. Sixteen by the way."
"Fifteen and a half." Davage responded. If this worked out, it'd be great knowing someone in the neighborhood who was his own age. "Do you go to the district school?"
"Yeah." Jake said. "My house is that awful looking gray one down there. I tried a couple different, like, private or charter schools before. I just like lots of people."
"Ok, I'm just like a six minute walk away from you. Y'know the beige house with the one palm tree in front?" Davage said.
"Oh yeah. The people who lived in that house were okay. I never really talked to them but weren't the sort that played loud music at midnight. Anyway, Jack and I probably better get on with our walk... If you want I can drop by later, or if not I guess I'll just end up seeing you at school on Monday."
