Learn to Howl {Alex Vreeke | Jumanji}

12; fuschia & future

"Do they really think my mom killed me?" Tetra and Alex are sitting by the stream, Tetra can still feel every fibre of her being being pulled towards the jewel, but she's trying pretty hard to ignore that and she needs something to distract her. She and Alex don't usually talk about 'before', well, of course they've discussed it in detail, this particular subject they've been over about five or six times, there's only so much you can talk about in twenty years.

"Can we talk about something else?" He asked, his head on her shoulder. Tetra hummed thoughtfully, turning to press a kiss to the top of his head.

"We've been here for twenty years." She mused, before stopping to consider. "Well, I've been here for twenty three years." Shuddering involuntarily, she wrinkled her nose. "I think I'm thirty nine, Alex." She admits, and that fact startles a laugh from him. "Always thought I'd be an accountant or lawyer or something." At that, Alex looked up, giving a soft, affectionate grin.

"Constance Lee, attorney at law, has a nice ring to it." He told her, and Tetra felt her face heat up. They were so close now, practically nose to nose, voice so quiet and soft it was as if they were in their own world.

"Well- well what about you? I assume you and your band would be having a reunion tour by now, headlining Madison Square Garden?" And at her mere suggestion, Alex's eyes light up, and he surges forward, pressing his lips to hers. Tetra squeaks in surprise, but then her hands are in his hair, smiling against his lips as she kisses him back. He pulls back, eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Of course, my tabloid, party-boy days aren't over," he said with all the mock-seriousness that this fantasy-future discussion deserved, "will you be our lawyer on retainer when I eventually throw a TV out a window?" He asked, and Tetra laughed.

"I thought you'd never ask." And she leans in without prompting, kissing him until a loud cough brought them back to reality.

"Gross." Bethany announced, though when they looked at her, she was gazing at them affectionately. "Like, I get that you guys have earned it and you love each other and junk, but I just got through a breakup and so-" she gestured between Tetra and Alex, "gross." Alex's face split into a roguish grin at being caught, and Tetra giggled, pressing her embarrassed face into his shoulder. Bethany joined them by the stream, a few feet away, filling up her waterskin.

After a brief gulp of water, Bethany turned a curious eye on the pair, who had gone back to looking out over the forest. "You guys are weird, you know that right?" She asked, but her half-smile hid no malice.

"Well, we've been here for twenty years." Alex shrugged, and Tetra hummed in agreement.

"So what are you like outside? You know, like, before? What's your vibe?" And they both stopped to consider Bethany's words.

"Full on metal-head." Alex answers almost automatically, "a drummer, like my dad." He laughed half-heartedly, "I've got a bit of a band, but I don't think I can call them mine anymore. Don't know if they even still play." He paused, before hissing in between his teeth. "I'm starved for music, you know? Haven't heard anything besides the drums that I didn't make myself for..." a sigh, "a long time." After that they sort of just fell into silence.

"What about you, Jungle Queen? You queen of," Bethany paused, already wrinkling her nose at her own choice of words, "the social jungle, or whatever?" That startled a laugh out of Tetra, and when she spoke it was the most honest and young Bethany had ever heard her.

"Me? Are you kidding? I'm fifteen, I'm on the honour roll and I worked two jobs;" she paused, "no-one even looked at me, and if I hadn't gone missing, I doubt you'd even know my name." And though her tone is flippant, there's something sad in her eyes, but it's gone before Bethany or Alex can comment on it. There's a tightness in Alex's chest that flares up every time he thinks about Real World Connie; she had shiny hair and a bright smile and he had been devastated when he thought she had died. It was a lesson in timing. A twenty year lesson on living in the moment, and wasn't that just ironic. "Thank you, by the way." Tetra's soft admission brings him from his thoughts.

"What?" Bethany seems bewildered, and Tetra gives her a soft, genuine smile, which in turn bewilders Alex, just a little. Barely a day with these people and her haughty armour's all but shattered.

"For saving his life." She paused, grin stretching out. "And for not letting me give up mine." Bethany ducked her head, smiling bashfully.

"Aw, well, you know," she mumbled, trying to deflect the genuine compliment, before looking up, brow furrowed but still smiling. "Can I ask what your strengths and weaknesses are? Like, I don't want you to trip on a tree and suddenly explode, you know?"

"Explode?" Tetra asked, suddenly panicked, but Bethany waved her off.

"Yeah, no, like Alex with mosquitoes, but more dramatic, if Fridge eats cake he-" and she mimes and explosion, shrugging after, "instant death sort of thing, or is it like, you're just bad at swimming or something?" Tipping her head to the side, she waits for a response. Tetra stutters her way through a response, before muttering the word 'explode' under her breath with a frown.

"Listen, probably won't explode, but like, listen," she took a deep breath, suddenly evasive, which only caused Bethany to frown harder, "it's not something I'll ever have to deal with, trust me."

"That does answer my question." Bethany said, and Alex looked from Bethany to Tetra, his mouth in a thin line.

"The jewel." Tetra admitted. "My weakness is the jewel." After a pause, she huffed out a shrug. "I think it's a glitch, but it doesn't matter, Fridge has it."

"Has what?" A voice, Fridge's own, join the trio from behind them.

"The jewel." Tetra said, and Fridge nodded, face splitting into a satisfied grin as he patted his bag with assurance.

"Oh hell yeah, I got it. Now, I found the Jaguar, ya'll come with me."