1 year, 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour, and 1 minute later. (also 2 seconds but, you know, WHOS COUNTING!!!)
Jacob made his way through the street and into the city's park. His muscles were still sore from the workout Erin had been putting him through to help train him for the Shadows.
It was grueling training but he didn’t really mind it too much at this point. Though his favorite part was his sword strikes to the dummy. It let him get out some of his frustrations.
He wasn’t really going home as often as he used to. Sometimes he would even stay out for the whole night. That wasn’t really to say he stayed at Erin's place either. He knew he meant well and was trying to look after him but he didn’t think the shadows would accept him if he they knew he was closely associated with a forsaken.
He was still surprised the Rangers accepted him but apparently the leader of the rangers didn’t really care about whether one was a forsaken or not. He just wanted good rangers which to Erins credit. He was.
Jacob made his way to a more private area of the park so he didn’t have to worry about other people and sat down under a tree by a small pond where some birds were. It was peaceful here and he could really use a nap.
He closed his eyes and began to relax as best as he could so he could perhaps try to take a small nap but then he heard a girl's voice calling out.
“Come down! I promise nothing is going to happen! Get down here this instant!” Jacob did his best to ignore the voice but with the continued pleading and what sounded like somebody hitting a tree he knew he wasn’t going to get any sleep with the stupid racket and decided to nap somewhere else.
As he got up and looked over to the source of the noise he spotted a slightly older Alice standing at the base of a tree kicking it while looking up to the branches where the white cat she had been trying to capture to torment. He was kind of surprised the cat was still alive all things considered. Must have kept escaping.
Unfortunately because of his movement Alice happened to catch sight of him and called out “Oh Jaocb!”
She adopted her innocent sweet kid voice “Could you please help me! I am trying to get my cat down from the tree but she won’t come down and I am worried about her. Could you please help!”
Jacob just rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why she bothered to lie when he already knew why she wanted the cat, and she knew that he knew. Maybe it was all a game to her. Or maybe she couldn’t help herself. He didn’t really care.
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“Fine, I will help. But on the condition you let slip to your dad how great of a person I am so that he will have a better opinion of me and how I have helped you out again.”
“Sure. But you have to actually hand the cat over to me if that is the case!”
“Deal” Jacob moved over to the tree and looked up at it. The branches were high up but sturdy enough that they would support his weight. Probably the main issue would be the cat himself when he got to it.
Taking his shirt off and holding it in his hands he jumped to the nearest and sturdiest looking branch and easily hoisted himself up to it. With practical ease thanks to the training he has been receiving he climbed higher till he got to where the cat lay crouched and ready.
“Alright. Lets make this easy for the both of us. What do you say?” The cat glared at him as if understanding what he was about to do and who he was trying to give them too let out his and swiped their paws at him.
“Hard way it is then” Using his shirt and keeping himself balanced on the branch. He moved and snagged the cat, using his shirt as a rebuff against their swipes with their claws which were undoubtedly clawing holes in them.
The cat let out multiple hisses as they trashed about struggling to get free causing Jacob to almost lose his balance but he quickly regained himself. Noting that the training really had been paying off.
Holding the cat tightly so they wouldn’t break free he climbed down the tree with a bit of effort and landed in front of Alice who happily clapped jumping up and down. She almost looked like a normal kid if one were to take away context.
“You better be careful or they will escape again.” He said as he handed the cat who was still thrashing about while wrapped in his shirt.
“Oh don’t worry! They won’t have much of a chance to thrash about for long” She responded with a sadistic smile and snagged the cat with his shirt and began to ran off with Jacob calling back out
“Don’t forget to put in a good word for me!” He yelled. Getting someone as influential as the Baron will help his chances in getting into the shadows. And if all it took was one silly cat's life. Seemed like a good bargain.
He turned away and began to go look for another place to nap when he heard a sudden yowl and then a young girl letting out a yell of pain followed by crying.
Sighing he turned back around, and this time making sure he was out of sight, looked over to see Alice on the ground crying as she clutched her now bleeding face from claw marks and the white cat running away.
Well that's what she gets for not listening to him and not keeping the cat close to her. He wasn’t going to help her if she was so useless she couldn’t even do something so basic.
He turned back around and began making his way to a different area of the park. It was a shame he lost his shirt. He will have to steal one from Clairs pile of mending clothes when he returned home.