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Mewn’s been acting rather odd today, not engaging in their usual banter with Jasper. She’s actually been avoiding them today, moving away whenever they try to close that distance between them. For example, Mewn was standing on top of the large jungle tree at camp, doing nothing of importance except standing there alone, but suddenly, when Jasper jumped up there as well, just to be with her, he moved down to where everyone else was. Leaving Jasper up there alone, dumbfounded.
Did they do something wrong, apart from the obvious of course, but they thought they had gotten over that? Were they just pretending to be okay with Jasper, if so, why? There’s really no point in that if she’s just going to avoid them right after it. Rather upsetting, if they may be honest for a second. Jasper had assumed they would be on better terms after their apology, Mewn was acting like they were, but maybe they had read the signs wrong.
No matter, they’ll get to the bottom of this, Mewn can’t walk away from this now. Not after he had already accepted their apology, it’s simply not possible to walk away now. Oh, she’s leaving? What a perfect opportunity to push for some answers, Jasper quickly follows after them, saying rushed goodbyes to everyone at camp.
“Mewn~” Jasper calls out for them, already looking around for any trace of them. They spot the top of Mewn’s head from above them, dropping down to be right next to them. No getting away now that they’ve found you.
“Of course you followed me, how did I know you would do that?” She sounds rather tired, though if it’s because of their presence or something else, Jasper has no idea. They hope it’s not because of them, they didn’t even do anything today! Well- nothing that would cause this reaction from Mewn.
“Obviously I followed you, why wouldn’t I? You’ve been acting odd this entire day. Avoiding me and all that.” They didn’t mean to sound so exasperated but it works out in their favor, it makes them sound more angry than sad. Jasper enjoys messing with Mewn, getting ignored wasn’t a part of their plans.
“You should just leave me alone. I don’t wanna deal with you.” Those words hurt, Jasper can admit that at least. Though they get the feeling that she is pushing them away for unrelated reasons, they don’t think they’ve done anything to cause this sort of reaction. Therefore, it must be something else causing this, yes. They’ll go with that for now. (the alternative is much too saddening).
“Wow. What kind words! You wanna tell me the real reason you’re avoiding me, or do you just wanna run around this forest for hours? We can do either, I’m not leaving.” They stay as stubborn as can be, which is pretty damn stubborn. Jasper’s not letting this- friendship or whatever you want to call it- go so easily. If Mewn’s in a mood, fine, but they’ll stick with them throughout it, like a good friend would.
“There’s not a reason, I just don’t want to be around you anymore. Why would I? You literally murdered me.” That is true, but Mewn was acting perfectly normal around them yesterday, so that doesn’t make much sense in this context. That seems to be another deflection from the real reason she is so avoidant today, sigh, why can’t people just be honest with their feelings. It would make everything a whole lot easier.
“I know that’s not the reason, so if you want to sit here and continue to lie to me, you can do that. Just know that I’m not going away until you’re feeling better.” A little bit of teasing couldn’t hurt, could it? Maybe that’ll help Mewn get back to normal quicker. Though it is rather fun seeing the sad look on their face, they much prefer their smile instead.
“I don’t- What if I just ignore you, will that make you go away?” So pitiful today, how interesting. Jasper wonders what brought on this sudden change, if it was caused by someone or just thoughts in Mewn’s own mind. It’s probably the latter now that they’re thinking about it, they haven’t seen anyone have a negative interaction with Mewn yet. So that can be crossed off the list. Well- now they really have no idea what’s going on, it is probably something from Mewn’s past, but there’s nothing Jasper can do to help with that except be there for them.
“Eh, probably not! I can talk enough for the both of us, though you are very welcome to try it.” Jasper doesn’t want Mewn to start ignoring them as well, but they suppose it is better than yelling at them or whatever else they could do. They’ll just continue trailing after her, like a good dog would.
They keep up the stream of talking, speaking about their day, anything that comes to mind really. They’re not really paying any attention to anything they’re saying, too busy watching Mewn for any changes in behavior, to see if this is affecting them any. A small crack seems to have appeared in their stoicism, Jasper is glad to see this. Maybe this can be salvaged after all.
“Mewn~” They extend the name until it turns into a whine, Jasper is getting tired of speaking to no one. They aren’t used to speaking to a crowd of one, yet feeling like they are speaking to a ghost. It’s rather odd to Jasper, how fast Mewn can switch moods like this. Another trait to write about in their journal later tonight, once she has calmed down a bit.
This has been going on for quite a while now, Mewn continues running away from Jasper, they continue chasing after, it’s back to the game of cat and mouse it appears. Though this time, they are having much less fun with this. It’s no fun watching Mewn go through all this torment without even being the cause of it.
He heaves a sigh before finally responding to them, “Yes, Jasper? Are you seriously going to continue following me?”
“Well obviously! It’s not like I have anything better to do, besides this is rather entertaining by itself.” That makes it sound like Jasper finds enjoyment in their suffering, which- that isn’t incorrect in a sense, but- it doesn't matter. They’re not thinking about this subject anymore.
“What do you mean by that? Do you find this enjoyable? Well, what am I saying, of course you do.” Mewn is taking this in a rather bad way, Jasper simply meant it as a joke, a jest if you will. But they can understand how that could be taken in a rude way, they did poke fun at them for their own murder before. Hm, well, too late to change that now.
“No, of course not! I was simply making a joke to ease tensions, I obviously don’t find you avoiding me entertaining, Mewn.” Sigh, this is so bothersome, Jasper hates it when people take things so seriously. But- they did bring this on themself by making that joke, it is their fault technically. They should’ve known better than to joke around while Mewn is in this state. They thought it would make them- banter back? Ugh, they don’t know how to handle this, clearly.
Another jump closer to Mewn almost brings them to their doom. She suddenly turns around and hits Jasper while they’re jumping mid-air, they only barely catch onto some vines and climb back up. Oh God. That was close. What’s her problem today? This is getting more and more irritating by the minute. Whatever, it’s fine! Just another thing to get the heart pounding, such fun, so very fun.
“Are you really that insistent on avoiding me? Can’t I at least know what caused this, if you really wish for me to go away?” They obviously have no plans on going away, even if Mewn suddenly reveals their true reasons, Jasper simply wishes to know. Maybe they could figure out a way to help better if they knew what was actually happening.
“I just want- I can’t be around you. You’re going to get hurt.” Mewn sounds like they truly believe this. Huh, how funny. As if Jasper would get hurt by simply being around her, how absurd. They are strong enough to protect themself, they don’t need Mewn trying to be a loner to ‘protect’ them or whatever they’re saying. They don’t need protection, especially not from her.
“What are you talking about? How would I get hurt by being near you? Not to sound rude, but that sounds stupid.” Jasper didn’t mean to be so blunt there, but maybe being blunt is what Mewn needs right now. Sugar-coated words aren’t going to help in this situation, she seems to be stuck in her own head and fear of what is going to happen, they can’t let that stand.
“You just don’t get it. You don’t understand.” Well obviously not, she hasn’t explained anything going on with her today. How could Jasper possibly understand what’s going through his head if he doesn’t communicate with them? They can’t be blamed for not knowing what’s going on, can they? They’ve been trying to get Mewn to speak to them for the better half of the day now, and all she has done in response is ignore them or try and get them to go away.
“How could I possibly understand? You haven’t explained anything, you just started being really cryptic and avoidant all of the sudden. Please, just stop and speak to me. Let me try and understand.” Maybe saying please would work? Mewn does that a lot, maybe that will work for Jasper as well. Jasper even does a little crouch below her, trying to get her to stop and look at them. All this running around has gotten them rather tired, even disoriented from the darkness. They even lost Mewn at one point, though they quickly found her by the sound of her voice.
He looks away from Jasper, almost as if debating whether or not she should tell them, in response, they scoot even closer to Mewn, pleading with them silently to just share their burdens. She breathes in deeply, then releases it all within a single sigh, showing her surrender of running away.
“You- You remind me of her.” What? Jasper reminds him of someone? Someone from his past? How odd. They always found themself as unique, they never expected someone to be reminded of someone else when they saw them. But what does this have to do with all the running away? Did this person harm Mewn like Jasper did? Or is it just the basic mannerisms they have in common? This entire situation just gets even more interesting by the second. Though maybe that might just be Mewn doing that.
“Of who, if I may ask? Of course, you can decline to share if you wish.” They decide on being extra cautious now, she's almost fully dropped the facade. Just a little more and they can get back to normal, to the bantering and speaking. They just need to get past this little rough patch, no big deal.
“It’s no one, just someone I knew from my past.” Mewn looks away from Jasper after finishing their sentence, acting as if this person is a bigger deal than they’re letting on. No matter, they’ll let her keep her secrets for now, Mewn hasn’t pried so far about theirs, so Jasper shall return the favor.
“I see. Me reminding you of her made you run away from me for an entire day? I don’t- Nevermind.” Jasper still doesn’t understand any of this, simply reminding Mewn of a past friend shouldn't cause this much strife in their friendship, unless there is more to the story than they’re letting on? How do they mend this situation if they’ve done nothing but be themself? Do they change how they act? No, that can’t be it, Mewn seems to like how they’ve been acting lately.
“It’s not that, it’s what happened to her, that’s the problem. I did something. I- She- I hurt her badly. I don’t want what happened to her to happen to you.” Mewn’s voice is full of emotion, a muddled up mix that is impossible to decipher. They don’t know how to proceed in this situation. Jasper could try and reassure Mewn that they could never hurt them, but they can’t guarantee that, plus people have always said that they are bad at assuring people. So that might fail, but they suppose there’s no harm in trying.
“You wouldn’t hurt me on purpose. I know that, you know that too when you’re not being so emotional. I’ve offered you many chances to hurt me, and you’ve taken me up on none of them. I feel like we can be sure you won’t hurt me if you have a choice.” Maybe they did better this time? It sounded pretty good to Jasper anyway, they can’t find anything bad in what they said. Hopefully that helps Mewn somewhat, they don’t really know what else to do. They would offer to leave them alone, but they are too selfish for that.
She stays silent at that, maybe she’s finally run out of rebuttals? They hope so, they don’t know if they have much more patience in them for this. They don’t want to ruin this, they just want this mood to be over with. Jasper knows Mewn can’t control it, they aren’t blaming them for this- they just- whatever, it doesn’t matter.
“C’mon, let’s just go back to normal, huh? We can chat, laugh, and banter all we want. Nothing’s going to happen to us unless we want it to. I promise you that.” Another attempt at reassuring her. Please let this work, they really don’t know what else to do about this. Jasper’s ears are pinned down to their head, almost pressed flat against it. Making themself appear as a pitiful puppy, who can do no harm.
Mewn lets out a sad chuckle, almost as if they are giving in. Maybe their jokes finally worked? Oh, please. “You sure are insistent, aren’t you? I guess there’s really no way to get rid of you.” It did? It worked? Jasper’s tail immediately begins wagging even faster than it already was. They do a little spin around Mewn in excitement, almost knocking them over a couple times from bumping into her.
“Such joyous days! I have successfully convinced you into becoming my friend again!” Jasper knows this mood is only temporarily over, but they can’t help but be happy that Mewn is back to normal, or at least willing to try to be normal for them. They still know nothing about this mysterious ‘her’ but at least Mewn is willing to chat with them again.