Pinyon Jay

CW: Very brief swearing.

The sun hadn't even risen when Richard awoke Jean, the raging star still hidden beyond the firmament under the black of the void.

"Up up, kiddo", Richard said, his midwestern accent visible through the monotone gruff. "Emma apparently saw a sighting or something a few clicks north of here, but she's not sure. I doubt it's anything, but we're heading out that direction either way, so we might as well check it out.”

Jean tried to mask her excitement as she tripped over herself getting dressed, assaulting Richard with a slew of questions, most of which he didn’t know the answer to, or at least didn't care enough to answer.

"What type?"

"Don’t know."

"Do you think it’s the Dark-eyed junco? I love them, they’re so round and cute."

"Don’t know."

"What do you think this means?"

"Don’t know."

After Jean had dressed, putting on a puffer coat for the early morning chill outside, she ran for the door, ready to depart. Jean gathered up all the necessary tools, while Richard poured his coffee in the kitchen.

"Can I bring some?”, Jean asked.

"How old are you again?”, Richard retorted.

"You know how old I am“, a giggling Jean relied. “I’m thirteen."

Richard sipped his coffee in deep contemplation.

"Alright, I guess. It is pretty chilly outside."

Richard returned from the kitchen with two thermos in hand, handing one to a beaming Jean.

"It's black, so be warned."

"Just like your soul", Jean replied, causing Richard to release a small chuckle, though he tried to hide it.

They put their boots on, parts torn and bottoms caked thick with mud from previous use.

"Don't forget your mask", Richard said.

Jean released a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping.

"But the clean air index is pretty good up he-"

"I'm not leaving unless you have it on", Richard replied.

Jean sighed, dragging her legs across the room and getting a filtration mask that sat on the table.

"Make sure you change it out", Richard said, causing Jean to groan.

Although upset, Jean begrudgingly changed out the filter and put the mask on. Richard was cold, but she knew he had her best interests in mind. Jean was born during the height of the micro plastic deformities, before the global ban, and her lungs didn't develop properly, something as easy as running up a small hill sometimes a herculean struggle.

"Okay, it's on, let's go", Jean said, stomping out the door.

As they walked through the forest, a prismatic shower of autumn leaves falling gently to the forest floor, Jean observed the sky. Anu-twelve hug down slightly from the moon, as if decoration adorned by some cosmic hand, people packed inside desperate for any glimmer of hope.

"Bunch of fucking idiots", Richard said to himself.

Jean looked up at Richard, a slight smile on her face. She didn't find what Richard said that funny per se, but the fact that seeing the ship stirred such emotion in him he had finally broke his stoic silence.

"You'd never go? To mars?"

"No", Richard only replied.

Jean looked at Richard for a moment more, observing his face before returning her gaze forward.

"John went once. To mars", Richard said, not turning his sight from the path ahead.

"What? Really?", Jean exclaimed. "I-I never heard about this."

"Twenty-forty eight. Took them eight months, and that was just to get there. Left in March, and didn’t arrive 'til October. Journey was hard, even for men who considered the word hard a delusion. That much time in space, surrounded by nothing but fellow apes that lost their grip day by day."

"Why didn't you go with him?"

Richard walked on, silent, his gaze unmoved. The forest was quiet, not even the chirping of birds and chattering of insects present. As if Pan removed all music from the woods, unfit for man's ears.

"Didn't need to. I already knew. How bad things would be. That the billionaires and politicians hadn't found paradise as they claimed. John knew too, I think. Deep down. But he needed to see with his own eyes."

Richard stops, looking down at Jean.

"Plus I promised him I'd look after you while he was gone. Ruth was due to have you at any second, and he knew he wouldn't' make it back in time."

Jean looked up at Richard, a slew of thoughts and feelings coursing through her mind.

"Oh", she replied.

"I stopped so you can take a minute. Your breath, it's getting too hard."

"Oh", Jean replied again, just noticing her labored breathing.

They stood silently, Richard tilting his head back and breathing in the air, as if inhaling an intoxicant. The movement caused a faint, mechanical sound, like the turning of a gear, the metal implants in Richard's neck from the war long past due for checkup. As she stared at Richard, Jean felt a little sad, both because Richard just had that overall affect on people, and because she realized how little she knew about him.

"The air...it's good", Richard said.

Jean nodded her head, feeling Richard was just speaking aloud and not trying to make conversation.

"Alrighty", Richard said, resuming the trek, Jean following.

A nasal caw echoed out, shattering the silence of the woods like glass. Richard and Jean both stopped.

"Was tha-", Jean began to ask.

"Shh", Richard replied, holding a finger to his mouth.

Another caw rang out, Jean experienced enough to notice that the pitch was slightly different..

"Oh my God, Richard..."

Richard walked, veering from the trail and into the thick of the forest.

"Binoculars", Richard said, his hand outstretched . Jean opened her backpack, taking out a pair of binoculars and handing them to Richard.

Richard held them to his eyes, his head moving horizontally methodically, like a robot. He stopped.

"...jean...there's two of them."

Jean breathed in, her eyes wide and heart pounding.

"Like a couple?"

"Yes, I think so", Richard replied, life for the first time present in his voice.

Richard handed her the binoculars.

"A little to the north, in the batch of trees above the clearing."

Jean looked, her head turning, then gasped.

"Pinyon jays", she muttered, breathless. "I thought...I thought-"

"I did too", Richard said.

Jean removed the binoculars, turning to Richard, a beaming smile on her face, and shockingly, like the dead rising from their graves, a smile on Richard's face as well.

"W-what does this mean?"

Richard opened his mouth, then closed it, his smile growing ever bigger as he nodded his head gently to himself. Finally, he spoke.

"It's not too late. We still have time, Jean. We still have time."