Somewhere along the way, the small stream like path they'd followed bound up into other such paths and created something near to a road which wended its way through the canyon, deeper and further from the sun. Jakob whistled as they had walked and he'd nodded to those they passed, a congenial bit of a nod which he might have offered anyone who passed him in his woodland home.

But in the city, there were no responses to his overtures not to mention had he continued to nod to anyone they passed, he would have given himself a neck ache, head bobbing like an idiot's. Instead, he'd satisfied himself with staring at the variety of faces which passed him, one after another. There were a multitude of expressions and lives in each one, written into the lines. Some had the hard, walled off sense he often found rising off of Casidey. Others ranged from fearful to tired to elated, busy, frustrated, late... each its own masterpiece.

He missed the covert looks their ragtag group brought on. He was far too lost in the bustle all about him. He smiled a frank smile and followed his troupe, bow slung over his shoulder alongside his tattered pack. Beside him walked a cold, silent man who radiated menace and chill, a girl who could very well have handled herself in any fight and was seen as such, and a young man who was so full of life that he broadcast it like a new lover.

Jakob jostled his way through with the same ease he'd have navigated deep brush, side stepping and captured in turn by sounds, noises, living presences. All the while, his mouth remained open and he appeared as if he might have broken into spontaneous laughter.

Derek, a hotel and cleaning, Laeris and his need to be on action, and Casidey? Jakob looked back at her. What would she do now that they were back in the city, a place she looked as if she had found herself once again in?

"I can help with gathering supplies if you'd like," he stated finally, looking back at Laeris. "Or if you'd rather go it alone, I might explore some. Never have been in a city before." His eyes swept the group and sparkled with boy like enthusiasm. This was a place he might easily get into trouble in, but what fun it would be to get himself out again. As much as he was sure the others wanted baths and such, he himself was fairly sure he could not settle so easily until he'd managed to drink in his fill of the environment which surrounded them, bursting with color and noise.

__________________

‘What will my death be like?’ he thought- and knew at once
with abrupt certainty, that it would be just like his life:
... the same balance of bearables.
~Amis