Bro Talk

Hakoda was very visibly bothered by something. Ok, so it wasn't that visible, but Bato knew Hakoda like the back of his hand. Something was going on with his best friend, and he was going to figure out what it was.

It took a while for Bato to find Hakoda. He found the chief perched on some rocks that faced the ocean, messing with a piece of wood. The closer Bato got, he could see that Hakoda was carving something into the piece of wood with a small knife. Hakoda was surprisingly very good at whittling, him being taught by his father when he was young. He always seemed to do the art when he was stressed about something, so Bato knew his assumption was correct. Bato sat beside Hakoda and blatantly asked, "So, what's wrong with you?" Hakoda was too absorbed in his whittling to notice his friend come up, so when Bato spoke, Hakoda jumped and his knife cut his thumb. He hissed and let out a profanity or two before putting his cut finger in his mouth. He then wiped it on his pants and grumbled, "Nothing's wrong." Bato gave him a look, "And you expect me to believe that?"

Hakoda sighed and set down his knife and work in progress beside him, "I'm an idiot, Bato. A real idiot." Bato, trying to lighten the mood, scoffed and nudged his sulking friend, "Well, I already knew that." When he saw that Hakoda was still in a sour mood, he asked softly, "Want to talk about it." Hakoda hesitated before saying, "It's Elodie..." He trailed off, trying to find his words, but Bato beat him to it, "Y'all have been hooking up?" Hakoda's eyes snapped up and he panicked slightly, "How did you know?!" Bato laughed softly, "You think I wouldn't notice? I'm your best friend, Hakoda. But, to ease your nerves, I don't think anyone else noticed. Y'all hid it pretty well."

Hakoda flopped onto his back, "Well, I think I just ruined whatever we had." Bato looked at him questioningly and Hakoda explained, "She told me she didn't want to sneak around anymore, and I told her I was against it." Bato shrugged slightly, "I'm going to have to agree with you on that one." Hakoda sighed loudly, "And, she understood why I was worried for my first few reasons. It was my last one that she got mad at me for." Bato asked, "And? What was it?" Hakoda covered his face, feeling very embarrassed, "I compared her to my kids. I said that I didn't want to make us public because she was closer to my kids' age than mine."

Bato sat there for a second before bursting out laughing, the kind of laugh that brings tears to your eyes. He gasped for air as Hakoda's face reddened, "You really are an idiot! Wait, is that why she made that comment about us being dad-like when we wouldn't let her go into town?" That realization just made Bato laugh even harder. Hakoda growled and pushed Bato away from him, "Thanks for the sympathy, friend." Bato wiped away his tears, still chuckling, "Hey, you brought this upon yourself."

Once Bato had completely stopped laughing, he asked Hakoda, "Do you like her?" Hakoda nodded, "Yes." Bato asked him seriously, "I mean, do really like her? Like, want to be with her forever and all that gross stuff." Hakoda rolled his eyes before answering just as seriously, "Yes. I really really like her Bato." Bato let out a breath, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but then do it." Hakoda raised an eyebrow and Bato shook his head slightly, "Go apologize to her and tell her you want the same thing as her. Don't hide your relationship if you don't want to." Hakoda looked shocked, "B-But you just said you thought we shouldn't go public-"

Bato cut him off, "That was before I knew how you really felt about her. When you were talking about her... You had the same look on your face that used to show when you talked about Kya all those years ago. It's pretty dang obvious that you love her, or are close to loving her." Hakoda's face softened as he heard his late wife's name and before he could even begin to start to feel guilty about liking someone else than Kya, Bato interrupted, "She would have wanted you to be happy and with someone you love, you know. There's no reason for you to feel bad about liking Elodie."

Hakoda smiled at him, "You really do know me." Bato crossed his arms, "Now, go fix things with Elodie before I change my mind." Hakoda nodded and quickly hopped up, but before he left, he turned to Bato, "Thanks Bato. For always being there for me." Bato smirked and said playfully, "Stop being sappy and go get your girl." Hakoda grinned and jogged back to the campsite to find Elodie.

Once he got to the camp, he looked around for the girl, but couldn't find her. So, he went to Zokkik and asked him, "Do you know where Elodie is? I need to speak to her urgently." Zokkik looked up from an ointment he was making and shook his head, "I haven't seen her. Is everything alright?" Hakoda nodded and said, "Yes. I just need to tell her something." Zokkik stood up, feeling a little worried himself, "I'll help you look for her." The two looked for Elodie but never found her. They went to go question Konoye and Petak, but they were told that them and some of the younger men went into town for the festival.

Hakoda went into his tent, feeling very anxious about Elodie's disappearance. He suddenly realized where she was when he saw all of her bathing stuff out and "nice" clothes missing. And then he was upset. Very upset.

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